Hello, hello, hello - Rookie needs advice on Searching

Bdoon51 · Post by **Bdoon51** » April 30th, 2013, 5:35 am

Good day and hello

The reason I joined Librivox Forum is to learn if there is some trick to searching for books. If one has certain areas of interest but no title or author it seems impossible. Project Gutenberg was not much help either.

Example: I entered non-fiction and then under that History in the Search format. The response was "0 Results". While I have found a couple books, one because I knew the author and the other, "Chronicles of Canada" by luck...that is it.

If you can provide me with some advice on this I would be very grateful

I also am grateful to volunteers who read... the vast majority who sound as good as professional audio book presenters. Once I retire I will have time to contribute.

Thanks

Bdoon51

Bdoon51 · Post by **Bdoon51** » April 30th, 2013, 5:38 am

Good day and hello

The reason I joined Librivox Forum is to learn if there is some trick to searching for books. If one has certain areas of interest but no title or author it seems impossible. Project Gutenberg was not much help either.

Example: I entered non-fiction and then under that History in the Search format. The response was "0 Results". While I have found a couple books, one because I knew the author and the other, "Chronicles of Canada" by luck...that is it.

If you can provide me with some advice on this I would be very grateful

I also am grateful to volunteers who read... the vast majority who sound as good as professional audio book presenters. Once I retire I will have time to contribute.

Thanks

Bdoon51

ekzemplaro · Post by **ekzemplaro** » April 30th, 2013, 5:44 am

Hello again Bdoon51 san,

Have you tried advanced search?

Category: Non-fiction
Genre: History

I got 515 results.

Cheers,
Masa

sonnethaiku · Post by **sonnethaiku** » April 30th, 2013, 5:58 am

Hi Bdoon,

Do you mean some trick to searching for books in our LibriVox catalogue, or a trick to searching for books in general?

If you want help looking for books in general when you know the subject you are interested in, but not any specific author or title, there is no better technique than browsing. One of the reasons why the internet and searchable databases will never completely replace physical libraries is because libraries (and most bookstores) group their books by category and once you know a general call number to look for, it is extremely easy to look for similar books by examining what is shelved near the initial book you've looked up.

Many searchable databases try to imitate browsing by having "if you like this . . . " sorts of features on the side, but not only have I had much better success finding what I want in physical libraries, it's also quicker and far more enjoyable. The only downside is I can't browse in a library in my pajamas.

If you want detailed and well-explained techniques to many surprising aspects of how to use physical libraries to turn up books you're interested in, I recommend Thomas Mann's manual The Oxford Guide to Library Research , which is an incredible book. I worked for an academic library for 5 years before I read it, so you would expect that I knew how to help others research (find books they want). I got a *lot* better at it after reading Library Research.

If this is not the kind of answer you're looking for, I'm sure someone will be by with something helpful soon.

~ Chessie Joy

sonnethaiku · Post by **sonnethaiku** » April 30th, 2013, 6:03 am

Note to admin: Can this thread be merged with the identical one posted in "Need help? Got advice?"

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » April 30th, 2013, 6:11 am

Threads merged.

Post by **philchenevert** » May 1st, 2013, 4:51 pm

If you are asking about finding books in the LibriVox catalog, I recommend this video as a starting point. Finding Things in th LibriVox Catalog. It is kind of basic but may lead you to explore it more in depth.