Revenge of the Card Catalog

May 1, 2019 8:20 AM

Library Extension, a free extension for Chrome and Firefox, shows you which books on Amazon, Audible, Goodreads, Google Books, and Librarything are also available at your local library. 3200 catalogs from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States are supported.
posted by Iridic (18 comments total)

Hat tip to Tumblr!
posted by Iridic at 8:23 AM on May 1, 2019

I've been using this for like a year now and I love it. It's been indispensable for me.
posted by gc at 8:31 AM on May 1, 2019

Well - I was a little put-off by the warning about "reading all your data on all websites you visit", but they address this in the FAQ - even with a list of the target sites the scripts are supposed to execute only within.
posted by jkaczor at 8:48 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

This used to be available on Goodreads but no longer. It was way useful, so glad to hear I can now get it on my browser.
posted by charlesminus at 9:01 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

yaaaaaaay now on Firefox too!
posted by epersonae at 9:14 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've been using it for a few years and it's great! Be forewarned though, it's not perfect. Sometimes it thinks something isn't in my library even when it is, so double check before giving up.
posted by metasarah at 10:16 AM on May 1, 2019

How does this compare to WorldCat?
posted by coolname at 10:47 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

Coolname, that is my question as well. I'm not sure how to test it. You would need some test case items, I think?
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:30 AM on May 1, 2019

Very cool. Just checked out an ebook that had been on my Amazon wish list. (And I can now read it for free via Amazon Kindle Viewer).
posted by octothorpe at 11:35 AM on May 1, 2019

I figured that Omaha would be supported, but was pleased to discover that the library for the small town just outside of Omaha that I actually live in (which is admittedly tiny) is also supported, which is cool. Their collection isn't huge but they're the ones I keep thinking, you know, if something's there I should definitely get it there because it isn't out of the way. 3200 didn't seem like that many, but it's apparently more broad than I expected.
posted by Sequence at 11:39 AM on May 1, 2019

How does this compare to WorldCat?

I think it serves a different purpose from Worldcat. I will go to Worldcat when I know that I want to check a book out from a library, and I want to see which libraries have it. This thing is connected to Amazon, so when I look at a book on Amazon, I'm reminded that I might just as easily be able to check it out from my local library. Obviously, I could go to my library's website and look the book up, but this serves as a handy, in-place reminder that the library is an option.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:54 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Huzzah. I've been manually pulling my Goodreads and library catalog side by side and searching one title at a time. Much easier!
posted by msbutah at 1:03 PM on May 1, 2019

My experience as a public librarian is that people just do not *get* browser extensions and are probably browsing amazon on their phone, anyway. I’m sure the folks who do install this will really enjoy it.
posted by Biblio at 3:15 PM on May 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've used it on my work computer (Chrome) for years - and finally available for Firebox on my home Linux box. I may never buy a book from Amazon again.
posted by COD at 4:27 PM on May 1, 2019

I agree Biblio. I do 99% of my library borrowing via libby or overdrive and download it all to my phone....would love something that told me whether a book I'm googling is available for download from my libraries...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:17 PM on May 1, 2019

Just mentioned by Tandem Affinity, but came over to highlight that I really like the Libby app as an alternative to buying on Kindle.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 9:07 AM on May 2, 2019

How would I go about convincing my local library to make themselves available to this or other such neat-o things?
posted by Golem XIV at 9:26 AM on May 2, 2019

If your local library has a publicly-accessible online catalog that's compatible with the tech the Library Extension folks are using, I don't think any convincing (on the library end) is required--they have a page where you can request your library be added.
posted by box at 11:51 AM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]