Gone with the fairies

Let’s face it: if you work in a library, you’re likely to get asked questions about other libraries. You could just gasp in amazement that anyone could wish for more than the treasures immediately around them, or you could read on…

What’s out there, Tink?

I know I’m easy to impress, but I still think What’s in London Libraries is a little bit of magic, a sort of Tinkerbell of the libraries, flitting around London and finding us the books we need.

If all that tosh doesn’t put you off, the first impression of the site is not very magical. You get a welcome, and you can click to search across London. Then it starts to get clunky. You have select "public library catalogues" and click" next", then click on "full list", then click on "select all" and "search".

Only after all that faff can you do a book search and start the magic: before your very eyes, the page whirrs and clicks as the catalogues are given a good shake. Out pop the hits, and you can then click through for more details of where the books are.

OK, it’s not perfect. There are always a few catalogues which are "temporarily unavailable" (only three when I last tried), and as with all catalogue searches what you end up with is a series of allegations that the books (or other items) are where the catalogues say they are. But you should be able to get enough information to check by phone and, if you belong to the relevant library, you can often reserve the book online.

I’m not sure that I really believe in fairies (gasp!), but this bit of cyber-magic has me hooked.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Libraries". What’s in London Libraries is just under London Libraries in the Key Links.)

Superheroes of simplicity

Sometimes you just need an efficient A to Z list. Some A to Zs, of course, make life more rather than less complicated (I name no names), but UK Public Libraries is great.

It’s put together by a couple called Sheila and Robert Harden. I checked up on them – it seems that they are legends in their own lifetimes, pioneers in enabling libraries to get the most out of the Internet and in persuading public library services to co-operate (not something which came very easily to most of them!).

UK Public Libraries is not snazzy, but it works. It provides links to each library service’s home page, its online catalogue if it has one and, in a few cases, to a source of local images.

If you need to know which library service covers a particular place, there is a link to a gazetteer. There are other links, and they give gold stars to the library websites which they find especially attractive. But mostly it starts at A and goes through to Z (Y actually) with a clear, unambiguous list. How often do you see that? Thank you, Hardens!

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Libraries". UK Public Libraries is a Key Link.)

Picture credit: somadjinn/morguefile.com