Become a Library Power User

The library has more to offer than many people realize, and you don’t need special training to take advantage of it. Library Power User is a blog series that spotlights helpful features across our catalog, website, app, and databases to make it easier to find books, movies, and information. Each post focuses on simple tools and tips that help you go beyond the basics and start using the library like a pro.

Before You Buy

Say you walk into a bookstore (just to browse!), and this book catches your eye:

Suddenly, you're picturing yourself pulling gorgeous, crackly loaves from the oven. You've seen people baking sourdough all over TikTok. How hard could it be? Start now, and by Thanksgiving, you'll be setting a beautiful homemade loaf on the table, wrapped in a tasteful seasonal tea towel. Your family gasps as you reveal it, steam radiating from its perfectly golden crust. With wide eyes, everyone turns to you, asking when you became such an accomplished baker.

"Oh, this?" you titter, sawing into the intricately scored design. "Just something I picked up."

You cackle to yourself, indulging in this fantasy (delusion?). Maybe this will finally get your relatives to stop bringing up the prepacked dinner rolls you brought two years ago that could have doubled as paperweights. Then your eyes fall to the price tag. Your smirk dissipates in a cloud of burnt bread smoke.

$32?!

Your mind immediately leaps to all the other projects you've invested money in that have since gone to the hobby graveyard because you believed you could master them in a weekend.

Perhaps, before adding another expensive headstone to the cemetery, you see if the library has a copy. Borrowing the book gives you a chance to find out whether baking is truly your calling or whether your sourdough starter will meet the same unfortunate fate as your brief houseplant phase (aka hobby #19; turns out, hobbies that require regular feeding may not be your strong suit).

See if the Library Has It

If you have the library app on your phone, there's a handy little feature made for moments just like this: the ISBN scanner.

Power User Tip 💡

An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is like a Social Security number for books: it's a unique number that helps publishers, bookstores, libraries, and distributors identify a book. They contain 13 digits and are especially useful when searching for a specific book. Searching by ISBN can cut through all the other information in a catalog and point directly to a particular edition. This is great for finding textbooks.

Download the App

Find "Clark County Public Library" in your app store:     

Logging In

Once the app has been successfully installed, you will be prompted to log in. 

Logging in requires:

• Your library card barcode OR username
• Your PIN/password

How to search by ISBN Barcode

Tap the search icon (magnifying glass) found at the bottom of the screen.

Tap the barcode icon to the right of the search box.

If this is your first time using the camera, a message will pop up asking for permission to access the device’s camera. Tap Allow.

Use the camera to scan the book's ISBN barcode.

The app will then search the catalog for those numbers. Watch the video for a demonstration.

And just like that, you've gone from spotting a $32 book in the bookstore to placing a library copy on hold, all with one quick scan.

Now you can test out your sourdough ambitions without making another contribution to the hobby graveyard. And if you're still baking beautiful, crackly loaves a few months from now? Maybe then you've earned that bookstore copy. Because spotting a book and buying it is one thing. Spotting a book, scanning it, and finding it free to borrow at the library? That’s searching the catalog like a Power User.