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Biblio File

Finding a Book When You've Forgotten Its Title

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Cheque out selected results from NYPL Title Quest 2019, held August ii, 2019, as well as Championship Quest 2018.

This is an update of a previous postal service past Sharon Rickson.

It can exist tough to recollect the title and author of a book y'all read a long time ago—even if information technology was a book that was really of import 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 assist finding these kinds of books. And we can't figure out the mystery every single fourth dimension, but nosotros do have a few tricks to help notice the reply.

First, pivot down everything y'all tin think nearly the book, plot, character names, fourth dimension period in which the book may take been published, genre, etc. All these details are clues in identifying the championship and author of the book.

Online resources can help with your search for a half-remembered volume, even if all y'all accept is a bones 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 just not least, leave a comment on this post!

Before You First

Attempt Google! Type in everything you tin can remember almost the book — as in, "moving picture volume rabbi animals advice yiddish" — and scroll through the results. (That'due south a real-life instance of a volume a patron was request for: It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach.)

Y'all tin can likewise endeavor googling 1 key particular you remember from a volume. One of our librarians solved a book mystery by searching "USS Yous-Know-Who" — the name of a boat in the story that the patron happened to remember. (Another existent-life instance: She Flew No Flags by Joan Manley.)

Crowdsourcing

• What's the Name of That Book?
  A Goodreads grouping 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 assistance 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 mail a new one.

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

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

• Big Volume Search
  If you can only call up what the cover looks like, endeavour this cover-search tool.

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

• Books & Authors

• Books in Print

• The New York Times databases

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

More than Suggestions

• If you can remember just 1 word, utilise the search role on Goodreads or Library Thing to find long lists of titles with a particular word.

• Goodreads' scan-able lists of titles that readers take shelved in unique categories, such equally authors' professions or decades of publication, is also exist helpful.

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

How to Move On

Sometimes, it's just non going to happen, and you can't find that elusive book yous've been searching for. It's okay! Great news: The world is total of bully books! Hither are a few ways to notice more than...

• Check out recommendations from our volume experts here 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 the states on Twitter or fill out our What Should I Read Next? email grade.
  
• Want a brand-new read? Bank check out our favorite New and Noteworthy titles.

Feel gratis to go out a comment and tell us nigh a volume you lot're trying to call back! Our library staff members will popular in and check it periodically, and readers of this post are welcome to brand guesses and suggestions.

Read E-Books with SimplyE

With your library card, it's easier than always to choose from more than 300,000 e-books on SimplyE, The New York Public Library'due south gratuitous e-reader app. Gain access to digital resources for all ages, including e-books, audiobooks, databases, and more.

If you don't have an NYPL library bill of fare, New York State residents tin can apply for a digital card online or through SimplyE (bachelor on the App Shop or Google Play).

Need more assistance? Read our guide to using SimplyE.

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Source: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/11/22/finding-book-forgotten-title?page=7