Resource Spotlight: Novelist
November 13, 2020 - One resource that staff at the Camas Public Library loves is Novelist. It is AMAZING. I wanted to take a moment to introduce this resource to you because it’s very helpful for finding books to read for yourself or your family members.
What is Novelist?
Novelist is a database of book recommendations. It helps you find your next book in a variety of ways. It has so many features that it would be difficult to describe all of them. Instead, I will introduce a few and then let you explore on your own.
Where Do I Find Novelist?
On the Library Home Page click on the Online Resources heading and an alphabetical list of our online resources available to the public will be displayed.
Scroll down to ‘Novelist Plus’ or, if you are interested in finding a book for someone in the Kindergarten to 8th Grade range, click on ‘Novelist K-8 Plus;’ these two options work the same way.
Features
On the Homepage you will see featured booklists on the left-hand side. These are individual suggestions based on age groups and genres. Go ahead and search for a book that you recently read and enjoyed. If you click on the title you’ll see a wonderful feature called ‘Read-Alikes.’
If you hover over each title in the ‘Read-Alike’ list a pop-up window will explain why Novelist suggests this title as a read-alike. This feature can help you find new books based off of what you’ve already read. Simply amazing!
I would also suggest digging into the Advanced Search feature. You will be blown away by all the ways you can search for books (at least I was blown away!). For example, search books by Grade Level or Lexile Range, which is very handy for finding books for our young readers. You can even search the running time of audio books. Again, LOTS of options for filtering your search results. Be sure to explore them all.
Video Tutorials
If you would like more information here are a few tutorial videos that show you more features on Novelist. Enjoy!
NoveList Complete (2 Minute Tour)
A Playlist of Novelist 101 Video Tutorials
Elliot Stapleton, Library Associate
November 13, 2020
