Novelist Plus!

Jambo (Hello in Swahili. Can you tell our Summer Reading theme is multi-cultural?)
In addition to cool websites that I use for fun, I figure I'll also use Techno Tuesdays to let you guys know about cool databases that the library makes available, free of charge. One database I use a lot is Novelist Plus. Novelist includes recommended reads, author read-alikes, book discussion guides, book lists, award winners, 150,000 fiction titles, and 50,000 nonfiction titles. If someone asks for a book that I'm not quite familiar with, I often turn to Novelist because its search feature is very innovative. Another time I use it is when someone wants a book on a certain topic or subject. Novelist finds books on a specific topic very easily, and then I can search for it in our local catalog.
Another cool feature that I haven't used quite as much as I want to is the author read-alikes and recommended reads. I like it when someone does the dirty work for me hehe. In all seriousness though, having a database that has so many titles categorized and easy to find makes selecting a good book that much easier.
If you go to the Online Research Room on our page, you'll find a link to Novelist Plus. It requires a user ID and password to use, so contact me if you'd like to get in. Its super cool :)
http://ksalibraries.org/researchroom/room.htm