Info Miracle 00000001... Revealing the Magic Trick

So a patron walks up to the Library Genius Bar and says,

"I read this book from the new section last year. I don't remember the title, but it was about an Arabian adventure or quest and I think it was written by Smith. I want to know if you'll be getting the second one."

 I smiled at the patron.

And then I opened NoveList, a database that indexes books on subjects and keywords, authors and series names. I selected the advanced search and filled in the following:

"arabian" in the [left blank] Select a Field
AND "adventure OR quest" in the [left blank] Select a Field

I selected Boolean Phrase

And I limited the Published Date fields to
Jan 2010 to August 2011

I got back a list of 14 titles with pictures (yea, NoveList!) and I turned the computer monitor to the patron and scrolled down til the patron exclaimed,

"The Desert of Souls! That's it! Oh, haha, it's by Jones."

As NoveList didn't have a second book listed, I went over to Amazon.com and found that book two is titled The Bones of the Old Ones and is not due out til December. I informed the patron and made sure to tell my selector that there will be an interest in part two.

Happy patron in less than 3 minutes. And now you know how.