Get Your Own Library Catalogue Search

If you've visited the live version of the Sutherland Shire Library News in the last couple of days (rather than receiving email updates or subscribing to the RSS feed) you might have noticed the new Catalogue Search box - it's over in the Sidebar on the right of the screen.

You can now search the catalogue and link to your library account directly from the blog, but that's only the start. You see that box is something called a Google Gadget. It's a little bit of functionality that can be used in different places.

Why?

We want to make accessing the library as easy as we can for our users. We want you you to be able to search the catalogue from as many different places as possible. We think that if we make accessing our collection easier people will be more likely to use it. So we created this gadget that you can add to other web pages.

Where?

Do you use Google to search the web? If you do then you should try out their personalised search page. Just go to www.google.com/ig to start. iGoogle allows you to add gadgets and RSS feeds to your own personal Google search page. There are all sorts of gadgets to choose from in the directory. Here's a look at my iGoogle page showing the catalogue gadget along with a weather gadget and a feed from this blog.


If you already use any other Google services such as Gmail or Blogger you already have an iGoogle page. Just sign in and you're on your way. Otherwise you can sign up for a Google Account - it doesn't take long. Once you've logged in click on the button under the catalogue gadget in the sidebar and add it to your Google page.

If you use Blogger you can add this gadget to your blog's sidebar. Just edit your blog's layout, choose Add a Gadget, then Add your Own, and copy this URL into the box.

If you have your own web page you can get the embed code for this gadget here.

Where else would you like to be able to search the Sutherland Shire Libraries Catalogue from? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.