Library catalogues
Some of the most comprehensive online library catalogues are either national in focus or combine several catalogues in the one search. The most common searches are by author, title, keyword or subject heading.
British Library integrated catalogue
Based in London, the British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It holds over 150 million items in many languages and forms: books, journals, newspapers, sound and music recordings, databases, maps and drawings. This link is to the online catalogue of the collections of the library including an online gallery of images. It also provides access to the merged online catalogues of major university and national libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library.
Copac academic and national library catalogue
This website provides access to the merged online catalogues of major university and national libraries and specialist libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library. Approximately 32 million records may be searched by author, title or keywords with options to refine or expand the search.
European library
This website provides online access to the combined resources of the national libraries of Europe in 20 languages. There are about 150 million entries for both digital or bibliographical resources. Collections may be browsed by country, subject or searched across all collections.
Google Book Search
Google Book Search is a service provided by Google that searches the full text of books in its digital database. Depending upon the copyright status of each title, either the entire text will be displayed or a preview is given.
Libdex
This directory provides access to library homepages, library catalogues, library and information journals and library-related weblogs from around the world. Information may be found searching by name, keyword or item number or browsing geographically by country.
Libraries Australia
This resource sharing service coordinated by the National Library of Australia provides bibliographic information and location details of over 42 million items held in most Australian academic, research, national, state, public and special libraries. Essentially a subscription based service for Australian libraries and individuals, there is also limited free searching available.
Library of Congress online catalog
This catalogue of the collections of the Library of Congress contains records of approximately 14 million items representing books, serials, computer files, manuscripts, cartographic materials, music, sound recordings and visual materials. Information about these items may be found via a basic search or guided search. This website also provides access to the library's other online catalogues of its prints and photographs collection and recorded sound collection.
Libweb
This website provides links to the online catalogues of libraries in more than 140 countries. Access to these catalogues is by keyword search for location, library type or name or may be browsed geographically by region such as United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia , Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Canada, Mexico, the Carribbean, Central America and South America.
WorldCat
WorldCat is a combined catalogue of thousands of international libraries affiliated with OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). It contains more than 90 million records describing physical and digital items available in more than 360 languages from participating libraries. The search interface offers access to the database by keyword searching or by specific formats i.e. DVDs. Personalisation is an option where the user can create lists, bibliographies and write reviews.