Biblio File

I Retrieve Information technology Had a Blue Embrace and... Finding Books by Their Plot Lines

The Snow Queen.,She has read all the newspapers in the world, and forgotten them again, so clever is she., Digital ID 1701881, New York Public Library The Snowfall Queen.,She has read all the newspapers in the world, and forgotten them once more, so clever is she., Digital ID 1701881, New York Public Library Fictional works are commonly cataloged by author and championship, not past field of study or plot line, which makes identifying books by their plot or story line hard.

Before you start your search it would help if you lot can identify everything yous remember about the book, plot, grapheme names, time menstruation in which the book may accept been published, genre, etc. All these tin help in identifying the championship and author of the book.

At that place are some resources online that can help with a search for a fictional work if all y'all accept is a plot line. Likewise sometimes the best way to find these half remembered books is to post them on a listserv or word forum whereby someone who may have read the book recognizes the plot line.

  • The Fiction_L Listserv "has come upward with answers to numerous fiction and non-fiction 'stumpers' much to the please of many patrons, as well as librarians, happy to find the championship of a volume they read 20 years ago (or just a couple months ago)."
  • The Project Wombat listserv is "an e-mail discussion list for difficult reference questions." Project Wombat is read past librarians, scholars, students, professionals, and people from all walks of life, then by posting your question to the listserv you are drawing upon the collective memories and resource of thousands of people.
  • Y'all tin can likewise submit your question to a service offered by Abebooks known as "BookSleuth"
  • Loganberry Books offer a fee-based ($iv) enquiry service known as "Stump the Bookseller" for people who can recall only plot details of a book for which they are seeking. Loganberry is used mostly for children's books that you vaguely remember.
  • The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore in Berkeley, California maintains a "Department of Lost Stories" web page from which you can email the store's staff the book'south plot and they volition try to locate the book for y'all.
  • Whatsthatbook.com has sections for Children's Books, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Scientific discipline Fiction & Fantasy for yous to scan or you can mail service your ain question.
  • The Internet Volume Database of Fiction has an "Enquire the Oracle" section "where you can post requests to assistance yous place books you read or saw a long fourth dimension ago, and tin no longer recall."
  • Barnes & Noble has a "Lost Books" give-and-take board.

So well remembered ..., Digital ID 496171, New York Public Library So well remembered ..., Digital ID 496171, New York Public Library Here are some subscription databases that y'all may be able to use to help you locate a book for which you think but the plot. They allow you to conduct keyword searches for plot descriptions, and often allow you lot to search by genre and audience.

Lost ball. , Digital ID 1134444, New York Public Library Lost brawl., Digital ID 1134444, New York Public Library

  • What Do I Read Adjacent?
  • FictionConnection
  • The New York Times databases

Other useful links:

  • One-half-Remembered Children's Books: Search Strategies from the Internet Public Library
  • Use the Birthday Best Sellers database to locate all-time sellers from whatever date, if you lot remember when you read a book and know it was very pop at that time.

Search our catalog at BiblioCommons by tag. Library users around the U.S. and Canada can create multiple tags for a title that help depict its content. Similar sites include LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Goodreads. Effort searching tags or discussion areas with the plot keywords you know, or create an account and ask for assistance from other users.