Biblio File

Finding a Volume When Yous've Forgotten Its Championship

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Library books lined up on a shelf Check out selected results from NYPL Title Quest 2019, held Baronial two, 2019, as well as Title Quest 2018.

This is an update of a previous post by Sharon Rickson.

Information technology can be tough to think the championship and author of a book you read a long time ago—fifty-fifty if information technology was a volume that was actually important to you. Fiction is cataloged by author and title, not past subject or plot line, which makes identifying books past just their storyline difficult.

Readers often ask librarians for help finding these kinds of books. And we can't figure out the mystery every single time, but nosotros do have a few tricks to help observe the answer.

First, pin downward everything y'all can remember near the book, plot, character names, fourth dimension period in which the book may accept been published, genre, etc. All these details are clues in identifying the title and writer of the volume.

Online resource can aid with your search for a one-half-remembered volume, even if all you accept is a basic plot line. Searching yourself is a good place to start; then, you can post to a listserv or discussion forum, where someone might recognize it. Or, last but non least, exit a comment on this post!

Before Y'all Offset

Try Google! Type in everything you tin remember about the volume — as in, "moving picture volume rabbi animals advice yiddish" — and scroll through the results. (That's a existent-life example of a volume a patron was asking for: It Could Always Be Worse past Margot Zemach.)

You can also try googling one key particular you recollect from a book. One of our librarians solved a volume mystery by searching "USS Y'all-Know-Who" — the proper name of a boat in the story that the patron happened to recollect. (Another real-life example: She Flew No Flags by Joan Manley.)

Crowdsourcing

  • What'due south the Proper noun of That Volume?
    A Goodreads group with searchable discussion posts and thousands of questions and answers.

  • Name That Book
    A LibraryThing group of ~3K members — many of whom are librarians or library-adjacent — who help solve book mysteries via threaded discussions.

  • The Fiction_L listserv
    Stumpers! Search archives of past questions, answered past an intense book-ish community, or subscribe and post a new one.

  • Reddit's whatsthatbook thread
    A nearly endless thread of users trying to aid other users remember book titles, including several frequently requested books. Especially good for scientific discipline fiction and fantasy.

  • "Stump the Bookseller" blog
    A cool indie bookstore in Ohio that maintains extensive, searchable archives — and offers a $4 service for personalized help. Lots of children's books here.

  • Big Book Search
    If you can simply retrieve what the cover looks similar, try this cover-search tool.

Library Databases (log in with your library card)

  • Books & Authors

  • Books in Print

  • The New York Times databases

  • NoveList and NoveList K-8 (in-library use only)

More Suggestions

  • If yous can retrieve just 1 word, use the search function on Goodreads or Library Matter to find long lists of titles with a particular word.

  • Goodreads' browse-able lists of titles that readers have shelved in unique categories, such as authors' professions or decades of publication, is likewise be helpful.

  • For recently published books, the reviews in Booklist Online are broken down by detailed genre.

How to Movement On

Sometimes, it's but not going to happen, and you tin't find that elusive volume you've been searching for. It's okay! Smashing news: The world is full of great books! Here are a few ways to find more...

  • Check out recommendations from our volume experts hither at NYPL. We offer suggestions via blog posts, the Staff Picks book finder, The Librarian Is In podcast, and more.
  • If you'd like a personalized recommendation, find us on Twitter or fill up out our What Should I Read Next? e-mail class.
  • Want a make-new read? Cheque out our favorite New and Noteworthy titles.

Feel free to exit a annotate and tell united states almost a book you're trying to remember! Our library staff members volition pop in and check it periodically, and readers of this post are welcome to make guesses and suggestions.