Bibliographic information provider Bowker, a business unit of ProQuest, has released a new version of Books In Print, one of the industry's top model online bibliographic book and ebook reference sources. According to the company, the new Books In Print is visually appealing and easy to navigate; robust for professional use by librarians, booksellers, and publishers, yet easy enough for novice users.
The New Books In Print has a number of advanced features to allow users to search, discover, and connect to what they need. After an initial search, four paths to greater discovery are revealed including a list of relevancy-ranked titles, a list of all editions of a given title, a list of 50 data elements to help refine results (audience, awards, price, language, format, characters, etc.), and a word cloud that offers more choices associated with the original search.
Also as a result of user feedback, the new Books in Print is title-driven rather than item-driven. A search delivers each title related to the keyword and provides users the tools to broaden or to refine the search. From the title page, users can connect to in-depth information, including annotations, chapters, reviews, author biographies, as well as a variety of availability criteria. Further, an Advanced Search enables users to develop complex queries containing up to five different terms and 85 different ISBNs.
Social media features enable users to interact with the database. With My Discoveries, users can make lists, tag items, rate them, and write their own reviews. Users can also create RSS feeds from any search, which gives them a powerful way to stay connected to information about that topic. On the librarian side, there's a Collection Development List feature where 'wish lists' for purchases can be saved with relevant bibliographic details. And, if the library enables the Hook to Holdings feature, anyone can easily search the current collection for any title they find in Books In Print.
Bowker is offering free online training for customers to help them switch from the legacy version of Books In Print.
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