Biblio File

Finding a Volume When You've Forgotten Its Championship

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Library books lined up on a shelf Bank check out selected results from NYPL Championship Quest 2019, held Baronial 2, 2019, likewise as Title Quest 2018.

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

It can be tough to remember the title and author of a book y'all read a long time ago—even if it was a book that was really important to you. Fiction is cataloged by writer and title, not by subject area or plot line, which makes identifying books by just their storyline difficult.

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

Outset, pin downward everything y'all can remember nigh the book, plot, grapheme names, fourth dimension period in which the book may have been published, genre, etc. All these details are clues in identifying the title and writer of the book.

Online resource can assist with your search for a half-remembered book, even if all you have is a bones plot line. Searching yourself is a good identify to start; then, you tin post to a listserv or give-and-take forum, where someone might recognize it. Or, last only not least, leave a annotate on this post!

Before You Showtime

Try Google! Blazon in everything you can remember nigh the book — as in, "picture volume rabbi animals communication yiddish" — and scroll through the results. (That'due south a existent-life case of a volume a patron was asking for: Information technology Could Ever Exist Worse by Margot Zemach.)

Y'all can too try googling one key detail yous remember from a book. One of our librarians solved a book mystery by searching "USS Y'all-Know-Who" — the name of a gunkhole in the story that the patron happened to retrieve. (Another real-life example: She Flew No Flags by Joan Manley.)

Crowdsourcing

  • What'south the Proper name of That Book?
    A Goodreads group with searchable word posts and thousands of questions and answers.

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

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

  • Reddit's whatsthatbook thread
    A about countless thread of users trying to assistance other users remember book titles, including several frequently requested books. Especially skilful for science fiction and fantasy.

  • "Stump the Bookseller" web log
    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 y'all tin simply recall what the cover looks like, effort this cover-search tool.

Library Databases (log in with your library bill of fare)

  • Books & Authors

  • Books in Impress

  • The New York Times databases

  • NoveList and NoveList K-viii (in-library utilise merely)

More Suggestions

  • If you tin remember but 1 discussion, use the search role on Goodreads or Library Affair to discover 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 also be helpful.

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

How to Motion On

Sometimes, information technology'southward just not going to happen, and you can't find that elusive book you've been searching for. It's okay! Bully news: The world is full of bang-up books! Here are a few ways to discover more...

  • Check out recommendations from our book experts here at NYPL. We offer suggestions via web log posts, the Staff Picks book finder, The Librarian Is In podcast, and more than.
  • If you'd similar a personalized recommendation, observe u.s.a. on Twitter or fill out our What Should I Read Next? electronic mail form.
  • Want a brand-new read? Check out our favorite New and Noteworthy titles.

Feel free to leave a annotate and tell united states of america about a book you're trying to recollect! Our library staff members will pop in and check it periodically, and readers of this post are welcome to make guesses and suggestions.