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Readers > Book groups > Creating a Book Group > Researching the Book

Researching the Book

Book discussion group leaders and participants often want to find out more about a book they are reading or plan to read.

The following resources will help you locate books and background information.

Multiple copies

Book groups often choose books that have multiple copies available from the library so group members don't need to purchase the book.

Check the Library Catalog to learn whether the library owns a title and how many copies are available.

Finding multiple copies — title searching

First, try searching by "Title."

Remember to leave off unimportant words, such as "a," "an" and "the," from the beginning of the title. For example:

Finding multiple copies — alternative formats

The library purchases not only books, but also large print books, unabridged books on cassette or CD, and videos and DVDs of movies that have been made from books.

In the following example, Margaret Atwood's novel, The Blind Assassin, is available as a book, a large print book and an audiobook on cassette.

  1. Atwood, Margaret El The blind assassin / FICTION
  2. Atwood, Margaret El The blind assassin / LGE-TYPE FICTION
  3. Atwood, Margaret El The blind assassin / CASSETTE Fiction

Some other call numbers that indicate the format of an item are:

Call Number - Format of Item

Finding multiple copies — related works

The Library Catalog enables you to find other books written by the same author, books with the same Library of Congress Subject Headings and books written in the same genre.

For example, related works for Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden include:

AUTHOR

SUBJECTS

GENRE

In the Library Catalog when you have the record for the book title on the screen, click on the underlined links for author, subject or genre to find related works.

Locating book reviews

Book reviews are a great way to get background information on a book or an author.

Often book groups assign someone in the group to gather book reviews to prepare for the discussion or to use during the discussion itself.

In the Library Catalog when you have the record for the book title on the screen, click on the picture of the book cover to find reviews.

Locating book reviews — other resources

The following resources are quick ways to locate book reviews:

Masterfile Premier

This library database helps you find reviews from major magazines and newspapers. Click on the "Subjects" search tab, and enter the title of the book in the "Browse For" box. Then, click the "Browse" button. Click on the links to "Review References" to read the reviews. You can access this database from the library's Magazines Online Web page.

Novelist

This library database allows you to search by book title and obtain short reviews from magazines such as Booklist, Library Journal , Publisher's Weekly and School Library Journal. You can access this database from the library's Books / Literature Web page.

Amazon.com

Online bookseller Amazon.com provides editorial reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and School Library Journal, as well as snippets from major newspapers, under the description of a book.

To locate reviews of older books published before 1983, try Book Review Digest and Book Review Index. Both are located at Central Library in the Periodicals Room on the second floor. Librarians can assist you with these resources.

Getting author information

Book reviews often provide some background on an author's life and writing, but for an in-depth search, use biographical sources.

A useful place to start is the Literature Resource Center, a library database, searchable by author name. Results place the author within a literary-historical timeline and provide:

You can access the Literature Resource Center from the library's Books / Literature Web page.

Getting author information — other resources

Other sources of author information are:

Access Masterfile Premier from Magazines Online.

Finding literary criticism

Some book groups might want to get critical evaluations of an author's work. Or, after reading a book, you might want to read critical insights.

A quick source for criticism is Literature Resource Center. Access this database from the library's Books / Literature collection.

You can locate books of criticism by searching the Library Catalog by "Subject Headings," and type in the author's name. Look for the subject heading that includes "criticism and interpretation." For example: