BookWhere for Windows

Internet Online Catalog Search Program

BookWhere is a Windows program that can search thousands of library catalogs and databases on the Internet. With BookWhere, you can use a single program to search thousands of online catalogs, even multiple catalogs at the same time. Use a consistent, easy-to-use search screen to find bibliographic information in the Library of Congress catalog, government information databases, online information services such as OCLC, and the online catalogs of many major universities.

BookWhere uses the Z39.50 protocol to access library catalogs and other databases on the Internet. Z39.50 lets you access databases several times faster than using the World Wide Web. With BookWhere you make more efficient use of your time. Searches continue in the background, while you are browsing your search results. BookWhere Autosync automatically updates host database information, so you do not need to keep track of database configuration parameters.

BookWhere is the perfect research assistant for students, professors, librarians and information professionals. The latest version adds numerous new features and supports hundreds of additional host sites.

With BookWhere, the vast bibliographic resources on the Internet are at your finger tips. BookWhere is pre-configured to access thousdands of library databases throughout the world. Easily search multiple databases simply by clicking on a list of libraries.

Search for information worldwide by subject, author, title, publisher, ISBN number and more. Use AND, OR and NOT logical operators to combine multiple search criteria. Save the results to your Library Master database to create bibliographies, to further refine your search results, or to create an online catalog for your organization.

BookWhere is also the best way to access hundreds of government information sources and other databases that use the Z39.50 protocol on Internet. It is compatible with Government Information Locator Service (GILS) and other non-bibliographic Z39.50 information sources. This software satisfies the new client software requirements placed on U.S. Federal Depository Libraries.

BookWhere quickly pays for itself in the time savings alone!

• Students gather bibliographic research for a thesis or research paper.
• Professors do a comprehensive literature search for course bibliographies.
• Researchers quickly determine the materials to borrow from a library from the comfort of home.
• Librarians instantly find books in other libraries for inter-library loan.
• Catalogers quickly and inexpensively gather records for an online library catalog from the Library of Congress, OCLC, and other collections.
• Volunteers at non-profit organizations can easily create an accurate and professional online catalog by saving records to a Library Master database (available separately from Balboa Software).
• Information professionals quickly gather information from government databases and other information sources.

• Set up searches quickly with an easy-to-use search screen.
• Search thousands s of library catalogs with a single search dialog. No need to learn a new set of commands for every catalog you search!
• View records in a consistent and easy to understand format, regardless of the format of the source database.
• Search multiple libraries at the same time.
• BookWhere "learns" the fields used by each database.
• XML record processing prepares the way for the new data sources of the future.
• User interface can be in English, French, Italian, Danish, Spanish or German.

• Browse search results in a brief list and detailed formats.
• Sort records in any order with a click of the mouse.
• Click on hypertext-linked authors and subjects in records to perform a new search.
• Mark any records to save for future use or to send to a Library Master database or a library catalog.

• Find information many times faster than searching catalogs on the World Wide Web.
• Save thousands of dollars by obtaining records for your library automation system from Library of Congress and other reliable sources.
• Save search results to the Library Master bibliographic database manager to create bibliographies, citations and online catalogs.
• AutoSync automatically updates host database information. BookWhere periodically checks a centrally maintained resource registry on the Internet and reconfigures your personal program settings. There is no need to manually enter new database settings when libraries change their configuration.
• SmartWizard automatically customizes BookWhere based on your user profile. It chooses a starting list of relevant databases, optimizes settings and guides you through searches to help you find what you're looking for.
• BookWhere comes with 1 year of free software upgrades and AutoSync host database configuration updates.

• Select the catalogs to search from a simple drop down list of libraries.
• Easily configure BookWhere to search additional catalogs.
• Gather bibliographic records from library record vendors such as OCLC and RLIN.
• Unicode support lets you search, display and export MARC records encoded with MARC-8, Latin-1 or UTF-8. Work with Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, CJK and other non-Latin based language materials.
• Search databases that use any version of Z39.50.
• Access MARC records in numerous international formats, including USMARC, CANMARC, UKMARC, UNIMARC, DANMARC, NORMARC, MARC21 and MAB2.
• Work with databases that use Generic Record Syntax (GRS-1) and SUTRS (Simple Unstructured Text Record).
• Use databases with GILS and BIB-1 attribute sets and standard and BATH profiles.

• Full Version: Designed for Librarians and others who want to display raw MARC records and export MARC records to a library catalog or a database program.
• Academic Version: Designed for students, professors, researchers and Library Master users. Includes all features of the Full Version, but without MARC record exporting and display of raw MARC records.

Both versions can send records directly to a Library Master database. BookWhere 6 is compatible with with Windows Vista, XP, and 2000. For more information, see the BookWhere Frequently Asked Questions.

"In my opinion, it is clearly among the best of the clients for Windows. It presents a polished, intuitive user interface, providing for sophisticated search and retrieval from Z39.50 targets and flexible exporting of records. . . . A very attractive addition to the serious researcher's collection of tools." -- Joseph Combs, Jr. Library Software Review.

"Of the handful of Z39.50 clients currently available, none is so feature-rich. . . . BookWhere ought to be part of the essential tool kit of any humanities computing lab." -- John Morris, Chorus.

"A very useful addition to a cataloger's toolbox or inquiry desk. Even if you do have an existing Z39.50 in your OPAC, it is unlikely to have all the flexibility and navigation features of BookWhere." -- Biblio Tech Review

Library Master is a bibliographic and textual database manager that makes it easy to manage bibliographic information. Library Master increases the usefulness of your BookWhere searches by enabling you to manage the results of your online searches in a personal database and to produce properly formatted bibliographies.

By using BookWhere to search online catalogs on the Internet, Library Master can easily import from thousdands of university library catalogs and other online databases. Once the records are in a Library Master database, you can easily create any kind of bibliography, insert citations in a thesis, article or book and quickly find desired records on your own PC. Library Master produces bibliographies compatible with most DOS and Windows word processors.

BookWhere can save records directly into a Library Master database. After searching a library catalog, simply save the desired records to a Library Master database in a single step without exporting and importing. This is the fastest and most accurate way to enter records in your database!

Data Magician can transfer the results of your searches of Internet online library catalogs to other database programs, such as dBase, INMAGIC, Access, Paradox and others. It converts the MARC records gathered by BookWhere to other numerous other file formats. This increases the usefulness of your searches by enabling you to manage the results of your online searches in a personal database or catalog.

The Data Magician also has the power and flexibility to manipulate the contents of fields while transforming the actual format of the file. It performs magic on your data!

You can download a free working demonstration version of BookWhere to try out for yourself. The demonstration program lets you conduct actual searches of catalogs and databases on the Internet. However, it only allows you to find a limit number of matches per search.

You can also view of video showing major BookWhere features.

You can order BookWhere at a substantial discount on the Balboa Software Web site. Substantial discounts are available on the BookWhere Academic Version for Library Master users and for students and faculty for personal use! The Academic Version does not include MARC record exporting, but it sends records directly to a Library Master database.

BookWhere comes with 1 year of free software upgrades and AutoSync host database configuration updates. BookWhere will continue to run after the AutoSync subscription expires.

Orders must be placed directly with Balboa Software to obtain the discount prices.

For further information or to order BookWhere, contact:

Balboa Software
P.O. Box 3751
Scottsdale, AZ 85271-3751 USA

ORDERS/INFO: 1-800-763-8542, 1-480-632-1901 or sales@balboa-software.com 
FAX: 1-480-632-6097 

BookWhere was developed by the WebClarity and is available at a discount from Balboa Software.