08 March 2009

Not afraid to be servicey: Library Lookup

Long ago I kept my to-read list on a hundred scraps of paper scattered around my room -- and on my Amazon wish list. I wasn't a major consumer in those halcyon days before I had to pay for things like rent and my own health insurance, but Amazon and I had some good times, like the time I ordered an SAT prep book and got a welding manual instead. (A commentary on my scores?)

Since I discovered Goodreads and, well, budgeting, my wish list has shrunk to be used as intended in the event of annual gift-giving occasions. But I still check out books on Amazon constantly, which is why I love this money-saving pro-library Library LookUp project. This has been around forever, but I finally spent the 15 or so seconds it took to add the link to my browser, and so far I'm delighted.

Once you install the bookmarklet, you can surf to the Amazon (or other bookstore) page of that book you just have to own, click the link and it will look the book up in your local library catalog using the ISBN. Temptation begone! Now if only they would mail the library books right to my apartment. (Kidding...)

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

I don't find myself on Amazon that frequently, so if I hear about a book I want to read, I might as well go to the library's web site, rather than to Amazon then to the library's. (However, perhaps the Library LookUp provides hits in a more intuitive manner than EPFL does.)

I do have the Zotero plug-in for Firefox, and it will look up books from citations (that it can recognize). Usually the first library it looks it up in is the Johns Hopkins University library, but I think I can set it to look up public libraries as well.