One of the most popular internet destinations for book lovers now offers a customized subscription service for libraries.

A unique hybrid between a readers' advisory database and an online magazine, BookBrowse combines rich content with a user-friendly, fully searchable interface that links back to your library's catalog.

BookBrowse helps busy librarians stay on top of new books, while offering patrons an intuitive, easy-to-use readers' advisory service.

Features in Brief:

• Fully searchable and easy to use website, branded for your library, featuring thousands of the best and most interesting books, including excerpts, reviews, back-stories, author interviews & biographies.
• Read-alike suggestions from all featured books (made by humans not computer!)
• Browse and cross-reference by time period, setting and theme (more than 90 themed reading lists).
• Summaries of reviews from multiple well-known sources.
• Resources and reading guides for book clubs.
• Opt in email newsletters branded for your library.
• Direct book-to-book links from BookBrowse to the library's OPAC.
• "BookBrowse Recommends" (usually twice monthly) with in-depth reviews and the stories behind the books. Sample issue.
• Monthly Preview issue of high profile and notable books publishing the following month. Sample issue.
• Librarian preview issue so you know what books we'll be previewing and featuring ahead of time.

Features in Detail

A Reliable & Easy to Use Readers' Advisory Tool
BookBrowse's navigation is simple and intuitive. Searching is quick and effective. No training required!

Patrons wishing to find out about recently published books can browse recent issues of our online magazines. Those with a specific interest in mind can browse our extensive archives many different ways including by 'best of the bestsellers', award winners, title, author, recent recommendations, genre, time period, geographical setting and by a wide variety of themes.

Patrons who have enjoyed a particular book in the past can look up that book at BookBrowse to find "readalike" suggestions to other books. All the suggested links have been made by real people who've actually read the books, not by computer generated sales data!

Because no two of us share exactly the same tastes, BookBrowse provides a substantial excerpt of every book we recommend so that patrons can browse the book for themselves and decide if the style is right for them. In addition to our own review, we also provide the full range of critical reviews, abbreviated to each reviewer's essential opinion to minimize plot spoilers and repetition; plus well over 15,000 consumer reviews.

Over three-quarters of BookBrowse visitors who visit a library at least once a month said they'd like their library to take out a subscription to BookBrowse. The percentage would have been higher but many respondents assumed they had to be in the library to access BookBrowse, which is not the case because we support remote patron access.


Interactive Online Magazines
At the heart of BookBrowse are our interactive online magazines, usually published 4 times/month:

• BookBrowse Recommends (2 issues/month): Features in-depth commentaries on the newly recommended books, both hardcover & paperback, fiction & nonfiction; the stories behind the books; book news and more.  Sample issue
  


• BookBrowse Previews (1 issue/month): Each month we preview & rate 80-100 notable or high profile books to be published the following month, summarizing the essential opinions of the prepublication reviewers. A boon for busy librarians who don't have time to read all the prepub reviews and for patrons wanting to know what's worth looking out for, and what's not, well ahead of the crowd! Sample issue
  


• The Interview & Reading Guide Roundup: A monthly issue stuffed with author interviews and printable reading guides, plus interviews with book clubs who chat about the books and ideas that keep their clubs buzzing, and updates on our "invite the author" program which puts book club members in direct contact with well-known authors looking forward to chatting with their group by phone. Sample issue
  

The ezines are published & stored online, so current and archived issues are easily accessible to patrons at anytime.


Emails Personalized For Each Library & Patron
Librarians and patrons can opt-in to our mailing list, or RSS feed, to be notified when new issues are published. The emails include a link that takes each patron directly to the correct login page, avoiding the need to drill down through multiple pages on the library's website. Subscribers can opt-out with one-click at anytime.


Affordable Remote Patron Access for Libraries Large & Small
Any library can be set up for in-library access and remote patron access to BookBrowse in a matter of minutes. An annual subscription starts at $180 for libraries serving a population of 5,000 or less, rising in increments so that, for example, a library serving a population of 45,000 would pay just $600 per year.


Links to The Library's Catalog
In most cases we are able to link back to the subscribing library so that, with one click, patrons can check availability of any book they find at BookBrowse in their own library's catalog. These links do not require BookBrowse to have any proprietary access to the library's catalog.

The BookBrowse Difference
No one has the time to read every book, in fact none of us even have time to read about every book. BookBrowse is different because we don't attempt to catalog every book under the sun. Instead we focus on seeking out only the most exceptional books, which we recommend with a depth of information unsurpassed by any other source that we know of.


Exceptional Books
We seek out books that do more than simply pass the time, books that leave you mentally richer than when you started them - novels that whisk you to unfamiliar times and places, thrillers that are more than "page-turners" and thought-provoking non-fiction that informs while it entertains. We provide patrons with all the information they need to decide which books are right for them and, with well over 2,000 books and 1,500 authors featured in depth, plus a further 3,000+ books featured in brief and over 100 new books added each month, even the most avid reader is unlikely to exhaust BookBrowse in one lifetime!


Great for Book Clubs
We offer extensive resources for book clubs, with advice, reading guides, author interviews, and more. Search for reading guides by genre, time period, setting or theme. Also, patrons and librarians can invite well-known authors to chat with their book club by phone through our "Invite the Author" program.


An Independent Viewpoint
We don't sell books and, unlike many, we don't accept payments to feature books editorially. BookBrowse's recommendations are based solely on merit, not on the size of the publisher's marketing budget!


Better Than Print
BookBrowse is interactive, searchable, updated daily, and accessible from any computer.


We're here to help!
From our Counter conformant monthly usage stats to the wide range of print and online resources that we can customize to communicate the availability of BookBrowse to your patrons—we're here to help you get the most out of your investment in BookBrowse.

   

Take The Tour or download a 3-page datasheet in PDF

Privacy Promise
BookBrowse has never, and will never, sell, rent or loan our mailing list to any third party. Your patrons can visit BookBrowse without needing to give any personal information but if they choose to join our mailing list they can do so in the knowledge that their personal details are secure, and they can remove themselves with one click at anytime.

Questions or comments? Please email: info@bookbrowse.com
Or telephone toll free (48 States and Canada) 1-800-745-5306 x 103
Direct: (+1) 408-867 6500.