Global Books in Print is an international database of millions of book titles published mainly in the English language (and, despite the name, includes many out-of-print titles). Originally a bookseller's tool, there are a lot of (relatively) repetitive items as each imprint has a separate record. It covers books, audiobooks and videos and each record has full bibliographic details, plus price and availability.It is a great source for finding the next title from your favourite author - it includes series information and sometimes a synopsis or review. Try boolean searching for best results (eg. snicket and unfortunate). The default order for results is by publication date, but there are several other options.
Other features include an email alert service, to let you know about your favourite author's upcoming book, various bestseller lists, author biographies ( >11,000) and a handy listing of awards winners (Australian awards include the Miles Franklin, Age Book of the Year and the Australian Children's Book of the Year).
Resources:
Quick Guide to Global Books in Print
Alvin Sherman Library's Global Books in Print tutorial
Exercises:
1. Find out the title of a forthcoming book by a popular author? Give a summary of the synopis.
2. When was the "Time Traveler's Wife" published in Australia? Was it hardback or paperback and what was the price? Is it still in publication?
3. Does Global have any training videos published in Australia? If so, list 2 titles.
4. List the winners of the Shamus award for true crime.