Finding Used Books Online

Amazon has made buying books a lot easier, but what if you're looking for out-of-print books, for yourself or as a Christmas gift? Or you want to find a cheaper second-hand copy, or a first edition? Sometimes Amazon will list sellers of used copies, but what if they don't have the book you want?

Thanks to the Internet, finding that elusive book is much easier than it used to be, whether you're a serious collector or just want cheap copies of everything your favorite author wrote. There are websites that allow you to search the holdings of thousands of booksellers worldwide with one click. Here are my favorite resources:

• AbeBooks.com

AbeBooks.com lets you limit your search in many ways-by publisher, by price, or first editions in dustjacket. (Read the seller's description carefully, though; the seller may specify "No dustjacket" and the computer catches the "dustjacket" and ignores the "No.") You can sort your results-cheapest copies first, or "most recently listed" (to see what's been added since you last checked. Best of all, you can register "wants" if you can't find the books you want (or the copies listed are too pricey), sign up, and you'll be e-mailed as soon as they become available. There's no charge for this service, and you can sometimes get great bargains.

• alibris.com

alibris.com works similarly, and also allows you to sort results by condition. You can often get discounts by checking http://www.alibris.com/coupons or Googling for "alibris coupons."

• Bookfinder.com

Bookfinder.com the most comprehensive site. Bookfinder.com allows you to search abebooks, alibris, Amazon, Biblio.com, and other sites simultaneously to find the best price (especially useful if you're looking for textbooks). But since it searches several databases simultaneously, it's less efficient than abebooks and alibris at limiting your search and sorting results.

If you have questions, feel free to see me in the library, or email me. If you want to borrow books rather than purchase them, there's always interlibrary loan.

* This blog post was authored by Arthur Robinson, the Reference and Interlibrary Loan Librarian at Lewis Library.

Staff Picks #2: "Finishing the Hat"

For the second edition of Staff Picks, our recommendation comes from Arthur Robinson. Arthur is the Reference and ILL librarian at Lewis Library. For his staff pick, Arthur has chosen Finishing the hat : collected lyrics (1954-1981) with attendant comments, principles, heresies, grudges, whines and anecdotes, by Stephen Sondheim. This item is located on the top floor of Lewis Library and can be found using the call number, ML54.6 .S69 S66 2010. Here's what Arthur had to say about this item:

Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim discusses Broadway musicals he’s worked on, including West Side Story and Sweeney Todd, and provides all the lyrics.

The library's collection contains many other items by and related to Sondheim and his work. To find more items like this one, search the library online catalog by author for "Sondheim, Stephen".

WorldCat: A Candy Shop for Book-lovers!

The WorldCat database, which can be accessed through GALILEO, is not only a valuable database for researchers, it’s an addictive one for book-lovers. As one of my colleagues has said, it’s like being a kid in a candy shop. WorldCat provides citations and information for practically every book (DVD, CD, periodical, etc.) held in any library in the US (and many in other countries), and tells you which libraries have it. WorldCat has many uses:

• You can get full citation information for a book.
• You can identify all books published by an author, or see if your author has published anything new recently.
• You can identify the most recent edition of a book (especially important for textbooks).
• You can see which libraries have a book.
• If you’re looking for a short story, you may be able to identify books in which it’s been published. Many story collections have “contents notes” listing the stories they contain. Similarly, you can search for plays published in anthologies, essays, etc.
• You can check whether a film or TV program has come out on DVD.
• If you’re looking for an individual song or short piece of music, you may be able to identify CDs on which it has appeared (or music scores than contain it).
• By doing a subject search, you can identify books on a given topic (and by using the date function in the Advanced search, you can see what’s been published recently—or about to be published).

Please see me at the Reference desk of Lewis Library if I can help you in using WorldCat, or if you want to order a book or music score from another library on interlibrary loan.

*This blog post authored by Reference and ILL librarian Arthur Robinson on behalf of Lewis Library. "Reading is a treat!" image by Doss Elementary, WorldCat screen shot by Arthur Robinson, Photo of Lewis Library Reference Desk by Rachel Evans.