an online readers' advisory tool that helps readers find new books based on books they've read or on topics in which they are interested. NoveList provides enhanced subject access to over 125,000 fiction titles and more than 90,000 full-text book reviews or annotations.Who else do you ask, besides the librarian and the book store clerk, about something good to read? Did you check out books in the pre-computer era where there were cards in the back of the book that you signed? At my first library, students would use that card to figure out if the book was any good, solely based on who had read it before them! Word of mouth is a fine way to find out what might be a fun read.
On a cataloging list, an article was shared about the Muncie Library circulation ledgers. As a genealogy bug, I know the 1890 census was destroyed. This database gives a clue as to who lived in Muncie from 1891 to 1902. Better yet, it tells you what they were reading. What we consider the classics of Mark Twain and Jane Austen were regularly read by the folks of Indiana.
If you had kin in Muncie at the end of the 19th century, would you like to know if they were using their public library and what they were reading? This Readers Advisory just might help you find your relative and get to know a little bit about them. It might inspire you to read what they read.
We no longer keep the record of individual borrowers after an item is returned. Privacy is a two edged sword. I'm glad the Muncie ledgers survived to let us know what really was being read!
-and another thought- American Lit aficionados might find this database extraordinarily enlightening. What was the MidWest reading at that time?
-kss
If you want a current Readers Advisory tool use NoveList
Your Georgia librarian can give you the current password to GALILEO
..Select the tab Databases A-Z
....Select N
......Scroll down a bit to NoveList
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