It is amazing how much easier technology has made finding things. In the advanced search of World Cat one can not only narrow a search by the traditional author, subject and title, but narrow each of these listings as well. I am not sure what all the possibilities are like Language phrase, access number and accession number but there are still many other ways to look without knowing these.
For the first exercise I typed in a book by Chris VanAllsburg, The Widow's Broom, one of my favorite illustrators. The result was 2,758 libraries worldwide carry this great book. There were seven libraries in South Dakota that carried it, the closest being Black Hills State University. The call number is PZ7.V266 Wi 1992 175142. By clicking on the name of the author I see there are 13 other of his books in that collection although I know he has written and illustrated more.
One of the subject choices was brooms and brushes and their was only 1 other book in that collection that included that subject. I also tried magic-fiction that listed 50 books other than The Widow's Broom.
This link also offers the titles of other books in that subject area along with their publish dates, location in the Black Hills State Library and how many copies are available. For instance there is 1 available copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was published in 2003.
Using OAIster I looked at a dissertation titled Dreams and Dust in the Black Hills: Race, Place, and National Identity in America's "Land of Promise" It is an internet resource and is only listed to the state library. When I went to the access link nothing appeared so I am going to try a different item. Oh I was wrong, just didn't give it enough time to load. This dissertation came from a student from the University of New Mexico. I find it interesting to be able to see other works from students other places. A masters or doctorate candidate could use this search tool to find out what has already been covered in dissertation work and maybe find a different angle from what has already been done.
I can see where World Cat is an amazing tool for cities with multiple library branches. Unfortunately in South Dakota it is not a matter of driving 15 minutes to check out a book at another location and with the now limited use of ILLs, it seems that the actual use of items in other libraries is becoming impractical for our region.
Hi, busymom, Thanks for diving in here. I like Van Allsburg, too. I think you clicked on his name within BHSU's catalog. We wanted you to click on his name in a WorldCat record, so it would bring up all his books. You are right, he has written more than 13. Also, if you click the subject area within WorldCat, you will get many more world-wide results. You made a good find in OAIster and have recommended a useful application for it. Regarding ILL, because of budget cuts the State Library has to limit the number of ILLs that they can process. However, any library can join SDLN as a Remote member. They can then process their own ILLs and have unlimited access to interlibrary loan. Thanks for your comments!
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