Search the Vancouver Public Library...with Amazon
By Boris Mann on September 20, 2004 - 11:22pm
Jon Udell recently wrote an update about his Library Lookup project -- it helps you create a JavaScript bookmarklet that you can click when you are looking at books on Amazon.com or other online book stores, which then searches your local library to see if they have it instead.
Pure genius. And the VPL actually runs a compatible system, so I was able to generate a bookmarklet. Click on the read more link for the code and further instructions.
For non-geeks, drag the following link to your browsers toolbar: VPL Search
Then, visit any Amazon page, like this one, and click on the link in your toolbar. It will pop up a window that searches the Vancouver Public Library system. Try it!
The same bookmarklet also works with Barnes & Noble, isbn.nu, and All Consuming. I tried it with Chapters, but no luck: the ISBN is in there, but it's obscured with some extra numbers. Perhaps some enterprising geek out there can modify the code so it works with Chapters as well.
I used the Library Lookup Generator to make the code. Line feeds added for readability.
javascript:var%20re=/([\/-]|is[bs]n=)(\d{7,9}[\dX])/i;
if(re.test(location.href)==true){var%20isbn=RegExp.$2;
void(win=window.open('http://ipac3.vpl.ca'+'/ipac20/ipac.jsp?
index=ISBNEX&term='+isbn,'LibraryLookup','scrollbars=1,
resizable=1,location=1,width=575,height=500'))}
