LibraryLookup: Go to Amazon, Find Library Book

-- Library Journal, 1/21/2003

Jon Udell, Lead Analyst at InfoWorld's test center, didn't set out to rock the world of library technology. He just wanted to check his local library's catalog while simultaneously browsing through Amazon.com. He soon developed LibraryLookup, a bookmarklet that can be installed on a browser's tool bar. "It's smart, simple, and incredibly slick," says Jenny Levine, Internet development specialist at the Suburban Library System, Burr Ridge, IL, who is among the growing group of librarians excited by the development. "But even more important are the questions it raises about library catalogs and how libraries can position themselves on the Internet."

LibraryLookup is a bookmarklet written in JavaScript code that extracts the ISBN from the URL on a bookseller's page, then goes to a library catalog and searches by ISBN. If the library owns the book, the record pops up. It works with any site that uses an ISBN in its URL, including booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Powell's, and any library vendor that allows searching by ISBN. Not all integrated library systems (ILS) use the ISBN, but many do. Udell's weblog includes lists of hundreds of bookmarklets already created for libraries that use Innovative Interfaces, Endeavor's Voyager, epixtech's iPac, DRA, and Talis. Users just need to drag the bookmarklet to their toolbar. Can't find your library? Udell provides a formula for creating bookmarklets.

Librarians on Udell's weblog were quick to point out that searching by ISBN--which differ for hardcover and paper editions--can be problematic. Udell's web site now recommends searching for the hardcover edition, which libraries are more likely to own. Also, few library patrons know the vendor of their library's ILS, or can even find out from the library's web site. But the burden of finding a bookmarklet shouldn't rest with users. "This is a fantastic opportunity for libraries to promote themselves," says Levine. "We should have bookmarklets on our home page, for our public to download."

Udell's neat solution goes to the heart of a historic argument: do lending libraries detract from booksellers' profits, or do they help by creating readers and promoting titles? Udell, a self described techie, says that in the last few years he lost interest in books, reading mostly online. Recently, weblogs about reading--such allconsuming.net, a site that aggregates what books are being discussed in the weblog community--have reignited his passion for books. "I found myself spending tons at Amazon, when it occurred to me that there was another way to get books," he said.