eResource Feature: What's Next

Over the next several weeks, I am going to write about a different eResource that the Troy Public Library offers our patrons. Today, I will focus on What's Next, an excellent eResource.

What's Next is an easy to use online resource, provided by the Kent District Library, that allows you to find out the next book in a particular fiction series based on any of the following criteria: Author Last Name, Author First Name, Series, Book Title, Category (Adult or Youth), and Genre.

The screenshot below gives you an idea of what the results will look like after performing a search. In the shown example, I searched for Lee Child under the author fields and received a listing of the entire Jack Reacher series of novels.

As you can see, the results are presented in a clean, chronological order that lists the title and the book number in the series. Being a fan of a tools that are great at one particular thing, I can see myself using What's Next more and more. I encourage everyone to check it out!

You can find What's Next by going  to the Library's website. Click eResources on the left under Library Links, then click Literature and Reading, and finally click What's Next. Or, you can access it directly here. 

A Quick Look at Novelist: The "Pandora" of Reading

Pandora is a service that many people use to listen to new music based on their tastes. You enter in a particular artist, and Pandora will play a constant stream of music based on the genre, sound, and user recommendations for the artist entered.

This is almost exactly how Novelist works, except instead of music, it is geared toward books. A user enters in information about a genre, author, subject, or year into the Novelist search box, and it will find books that Novelist thinks are related to your description. In addition, you can find similar novels to popular titles, such as the Best-Sellers, listed directly beneath the titles when you first access the Novelist homepage.

In its most basic form, Novelist is a book recommendation eResource. Let's say you have just finished the latest Lee Child novel and you wanted to find authors with a similar writing style. You could perform a search for "Lee Child" under the Author search, and you'll be taken to a page that not only lists every book he has written, but Novelist will also list similar genres that you can select to find additional titles and authors with a similar writing style. Novelist also features reviews, plot lines, and the option to create an account to keep track of books you are interested in, and have read.

Novelist provides you with some extensive tutorials to get the most out of this excellent eResource. You can find these tools here. Finally, here is a quick PowerPoint, that I found helpful for discovering the great features of Novelist.

The Troy Public Library currently subscribes to 3 different Novelist products. The main product, Novelist, features fiction titles. Novelist Plus features fiction titles and also readable non-fiction. Novelist K-8 Plus features fiction and nonfiction titles for younger readers.

To access any Novelist product, you will need a Troy Public Library card. Go to our website and click eResources on the left under Library Links. Click on Literature and Reading, then Novelist, Novelist Plus, or Novelist K-8 Plus.Try it out and let us know what you think.

Career Transitions Now Available at Troy Public Library

Are you daunted with the thought of having to conduct a job search? Do you need help writing a resume? Are you interested in exploring new career options?

With Career Transitions, a new eResource provided by the Troy Public Library, you can do all of this and more. Career Transitions walks you through each step of the job search process. It features personal assessment tests to help you discover careers in which you may be interested, and shows you projected growth rates of careers by state.

Career Transitions features a self-guided resume builder that allows you to quickly create a resume that can be saved in a variety of file formats. Additionally, there are tips during each step so that you create a quality resume.

Best of all, you can look up and apply to jobs directly through Career Transitions.

To access Career Transitions you will need a Troy Public Library card. Go to the Troy Public Library website and click eResources on the left under Library Links. Click on the Job Seeker link, and then click on Career Transitions.