Library Catalog Online

The Hampstead Public Library's catalog of its holdings is online at the library's web site.

Now you'll be able to find out if the library has a book or magazine or CD or video that you want from the comfort of your own home by going to http://www.hampsteadlibrary.org and clicking on the link to the catalog. You'll also be able to put a hold on something or renew the book you haven't quite finished, although there will be some restrictions on what can be renewed from home. You'll see exactly the same search screen at home that you see when you use one of the catalog computers at the library and there will be online instructions for how to place a hold or renew something. Instead of shopping online at 2 a.m., you can now plan your reading or listening in your PJs.

How would you like to be able to keep track of everything you've ever borrowed from the Hampstead Public Library online using the library's system? Would you also like to keep a list of things you haven't read yet but want to read? What about a list of things you'd like your kids to read or DVDs you'd like to watch? All these things and more are possible with the library's new Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC to its friends).

When you log in to a section called "My Items" using a PIN that you have created, at the library, you'll be able to not only do all these neat things but also see what materials you have checked out, place a reserve or two or three, see if the library has anything waiting for you to pick up and renew things that you haven't quite finished yet.

There are lots of other neat features to the new system as well. You'll be able to see the jacket (cover) of a book, read a brief summary of the plot, find out if it's part of a series and where in the series it falls, and check reviews of the book from standard library review sources such as "Library Journal", "School Library Journal", "Booklist" and "Publisher's Weekly". There are much more sophisticated ways to search the catalog for things as well, including the expert search using the famous terms 'and', 'or', 'and not' that you may have learned in a computer class at some time in the past. It will even be possible to do a secondary search to narrow down your choices. You'll be able to see a variety of lists of materials as well, such as new materials, a list by material type (book, DVD, audio, etc.) and other relevant groupings including a list by Dewey Decimal classification.