New search features put you on the fast track to finding your favorite books
Bookshare’s collection is growing by leaps and bounds. As of today, Bookshare has 365,017 titles, and by tomorrow, the number will be even higher. As the number of books increases, it becomes even more critical to have a robust search capability so you can find the books you want quickly and easily. Let’s take a look at Bookshare’s new and improved search features that benefit students and adult members alike. How many of these search methods do you use?
Search by Category
The Bookshare library is now indexed by category – 48 to be exact. For students, subjects such as language arts, mathematics, earth sciences, and social studies are useful in the classroom. For adult readers, popular new categories include politics, philosophy, music, and humor. Browse through all 48 categories to discover new books and authors.
Search for Latest Additions
Are you the type of reader who checks to see the list of books most recently added to the collection? Previously, browsing for new books could yield a list of several thousand titles which even the most patient person would have difficulty reviewing. Now, thanks to the enhanced list of categories, you can find the latest additions to your favorite subject area by using Advanced Search, selecting the desired category, and sorting the results by date added. Then select table view to see the date each book was added. Voila!
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xample, if you are a fan of Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and you checked the recent additions to the Mystery and Thrillers category, you would discover that the companion book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, was added on September 22.
Search for Books with Images and Image descriptions
Advanced search now allows you to locate books containing images and/or image descriptions. For younger readers who want books with illustrations, use Advanced Search and check the ‘contains images’ or ‘contains image descriptions’ boxes.
For example, a search for children’s books with images and images descriptions at the first grade level yielded twenty-five results including gems such as New York Times bestseller Press Here by Hervé Tullet. For young readers with visual impairments, the image descriptions are especially helpful.
Bonus Feature – Related ISBNs
And finally, when you search by ISBN, results now include related ISBNs. For example, if you search for a paperback version of a book and the hardcover version is in the collection, that title will appear in the results. And for schools searching for textbooks, related titles – such as national or state editions – now appear in the search results. This feature allows searches to be much more complete and useful.
We hope these powerful new search features inspire you to discover new books for yourself or your students. Visit the Help Center for more search tips.
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