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 basic searching and start using the library like a pro.

You might have experienced this frustration before: you finish a book, sigh happily, and think, "I can't wait for the next one." You check the library catalog once in a while to see if the author has written anything new, only to find nothing. Then life happens. Months pass. Years pass. Then, the author publishes a new book. Everyone on social media is buzzing about it, taking pictures of their copies with the sprayed edges. Of course, you didn't hear about it! You rush over to the library's website to search the catalog and—what, no!—there's already a waitlist of 200 people?!

Customized Searches

If you hate being the last to know, you can set up a custom search in the catalog to make sure you don't miss a new release. That way, you're ahead of the game and can be at the top of the waitlist once our new copies come in.

Creating an account

You may already have a library card, but setting up your online catalog access is a separate step. The first time you log in, you will be prompted to complete this setup. Click the Log In/Register button, located in the top right corner of every page on the website.

Enter your library card barcode and the PIN or password you created during registration. If you don't remember your PIN/password, call (937) 328-6903 for help.

On the Account Setup page, verify that the provided information is correct. The email address on file is used for password reset links, hold pickup notifications, and discovery pass delivery. Note: If you decide not to provide your birth year and month, the system will assume you are a minor, and for safety reasons, some features of the website will not be available to you.

Choose a username. This username will appear anywhere you post reviews or contribute shared content. You can also use it to log in instead of your library card barcode. If the username is available, the entry box will turn green. Then, accept the Terms and Conditions by checking the box and clicking Complete Account Setup.

Power User Tip 💡

Pick a username that is something simple and easy to remember. You can always change it later in Account Settings, so no need to overthink it. If you use a personal device, let your browser save your login info for faster access. Skip this on public or shared computers (library PCs, family devices, etc.).

You will see a confirmation page with your new username. You can then continue to your account. For more information on configuring your personal library account, please see the Bibliocommons Account Help Articles.

Creating & Saving a Search Query

If you regularly search for titles by the same author or on the same subject, you can save your search and re-run it with a single click. That saves you time, especially for complex searches or when keeping up with new releases. You can build these custom search queries using the Advanced Search form, which can be found in the top right corner of any page, below the main search bar.

For New Releases

We have something called "standing orders" for popular authors with upcoming releases. These are the authors we know our community is excited to read, and we automated the purchase of their new titles with our vendor. In the catalog, you'll see them labeled ON ORDER. We won't receive the physical books until after the official publication date, but we've created a record so people can start queuing for copies right away.

You can search and browse all the books we have on standing order. Go to the Advanced Search page. In the query form, select Call Number from the dropdown menu, then type "on order" in the field box next to it. The advanced search bar above will begin to populate with your query.

On the results page, the default view is Relevance (most popular). You can sort by title, author, publication date, or acquisition date instead. You can also add more filters from the menu on the left. Because standing orders are only for books, the filters will be limited to format or content.

Power User Tip 💡

A call number is like a home address: it's those numbers and names on the book spine that tell you where the book is shelved in the library. Our standing order books haven't been assigned a code yet, so we use "ON ORDER" as a placeholder until they are processed. Searching by call number can also be useful when you're looking for books on a particular topic, especially since subject tags can vary from one record to another. For example, consider True Crime (call number: 364.1523). "True crime" is a colloquial term for the genre, but it's not an official library classification for the material. Searching for its "address", 364.1523, will produce better results.

For A Specific Author

Maybe you have a favorite author whose new books you always want to catch. To look for a specific author's upcoming releases, add a search field to your query form. You can do this by clicking the Add Another link found on the right. Select Author or Contributor from the dropdown menu and type the author's name in the field box. Because the query has "ALL" (not "ANY") selected, the Boolean operator "AND" now appears between the two search terms in the Advanced Search box above. That's the Boolean operator telling the catalog to find items that match both conditions.

Now the results will show only that author's standing order books. Not seeing any results? That just means we don't have any standing orders for that author at the moment. Save the search, and you can run it again later to check for new additions. To save your search, click the blue Save Search heart above your results.

Note:

The standing order records are just templates with very basic information, which can vary from book to book. Details such as series title, volume number, genre labels, and subject tags aren't available until the book is physically processed. So if you were hoping to find on-order romance or on-order historical fiction by searching those genre labels, unfortunately, that won't work yet. Those details just aren't in the records.

When you save a search, the name defaults to your query string, but you should rename it to something descriptive. That way, you'll remember what the search does at a glance. For example, "Thrillers from 2024" is clearer than "ge:thriller AND py:2024."

Managing Searches

You can find your saved searches in your account settings. Click on the account dropdown menu found on the upper right of any page, then find My Settings. On the My Settings page, look under the Account Preferences for your Saved Searches. You can also access them on any page by clicking Saved Searches, found under the basic search bar at the top of the page.

To run a saved search, click on its name. You can also edit or delete your saved searches from within your account settings.

Knowing how to find on-order books, create, and save advanced searches is exactly the kind of insider knowledge that separates casual readers from true enthusiasts. Most people wait for books to arrive, but you'll already be in line.

That's the difference using the catalog…

…and using it like a Library Power User.