Any true bookworm appreciates tools to help them discover great new books and authors, identify the order of books in a series (and what comes next), and keep track of what has already been read. Here is a collection of useful links to add to your bookmarks:

READING TRACKERS

We are frequently asked here at Princeton Public Library if we can tell a patron what they had previously checked out. We do not automatically track check-outs due to privacy reasons, BUT a patron can opt in to saving their reading history by signing into “My Account” on our catalog site https://www.prairiecat.info/ (Library card number and PIN–the last 4 digits of the card–are necessary to sign in). Reading history can be sorted by check-out date, title, and author. Patrons may also create lists to save books they are interested in reading (or books already read) by author or genre or other category by saving titles to the account’s book cart and moving them from there to a book list.

Goodreads.com is a website (and app) that not only tracks your reading (and can link to your Amazon.com purchases), but also allows you to rate and review books, tag them with a genre or other category. Read other users’ reviews and book lists, read author interviews, ask and answer reader questions, and even participate in book giveaways! Adding a book to one’s “Want to Read” list is easy as scanning the ISBN and clicking on a drop down.

SERIES FINDERS

At the Circulation Desk, we rely on Fantasticfiction.com for readers advisory on what comes next.  Fictfact.com is a similar site; beyond series information, both sites allow users who sign into a free account to track their reading history.

Literature-map.com is fun to play with (it’s a cloud app that creates constellations of authors; type in a name to find other authors whom other fans like as well).

KDL What’s Next is a website for looking up SERIES ONLY.  It is very friendly when printing lists of series.

Book Companion does not have a huge database, but is set up to help you keep track of the characters found in books. You can type in the title of a book and the names of the characters will come up and the relationship between all the characters.

HELPFUL APPS

The Merriam Webster dictionary and Google Translate apps can be downloaded for words or phrases that pop up in books sometimes. You get audio pronunciation with Google Translate.

Have we missed any of your favorite reading aids? Add links in a comment below or let us know by emailing help@princetonpl.org.