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This page is about a useful bookmarklet (executable JavaScript bookmark) that let's you search the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC). There is also a [[:Category:Library|Library]] category for all things library. == The bookmarklet ==Want this [[wp:bookmarklet|bookmarklet]]? Drag the following link to your browser bookmark bar: <html><a href="javascript: (function(){var t=window.getSelection?window.getSelection().toString():document.selection.createRange().text;var re = /[\s\-xX0-9]{10,17}/;var OK = re.exec(t);if (!OK) {alert(t + ' is not a valid ISBN\n Please just select a 10 or 13 digit ISBN\ndashes and spaces are OK');} else {t = t.replace(/[\-\s]/,'');window.location='http://newburyport.mvlc.org/eg/opac/results?contains=contains;_special=1;qtype=identifier%7Cisbn;locg=1;pane=numeric;query='+t}})();">Search MVLC</a></html> == Description == Suppose you're shopping on Amazon for a book like Lawrence Lessig's '''[http://www.amazon.com/Free-Culture-Technology-Control-Creativity/dp/1594200068 Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity]''', and you wonder if your local library has a copy of the book. Amazon displays the '''<abbr title='ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. ISBNs are 10-digit or 13-digit codes used by the publishing industry to uniquely identify individual book titles and editions. Some 10-digit ISBNs may end with an "X" instead of a digit.'>ISBN </abbr>''' near the title or product details. Highlight the ISBN, and click "Search MVLC" in your toolbar. Presto, you're looking at the search results for that book / CD at your local library! == How it works ==The catalog for the [http://www.mvlc.org/Libraries Merrimack Valley Library Consortium] supports lookup by ISBN. If you perform the search, you'll notice that the resulting URL for that search is
<pre>
http://newburyport.mvlc.org/eg/opac/record/888792?contains=contains;_special=1;qtype=identifier%7Cisbn;query=978-1594200069;locg=1
var t = window.getSelection ? window.getSelection().toString() : document.selection.createRange().text;
// create a Regular Expression to test the validity of our input
var re = /97(?:8|9)([ \s\-xX0-9])\d{1,5}\1\d{110,717}\1\d{1,6}\1\d$/;
var OK = re.exec(t);
if (!OK) {
// Notify the user if their selection doesn't look right
alert(t + " isn't is not a valid ISBN\n Please just select a 10 or 13 digit ISBN\ndashes and spaces are OK"');
} else {
// clean up by removing dashes and spaces t = t.replace(/[\-\s]/,''); // hand off to MLVC MVLC search
window.location = 'http://newburyport.mvlc.org/eg/opac/results?contains=contains;_special=1;qtype=identifier%7Cisbn;locg=1;pane=numeric;query=' + t;
}
{{Messagebox|type=success|text=Note: for the bookmarklet to work, it all has to be on one line. The code above is presented on several lines for readability.}}
* Little Rabbit Foo Foo is ISBN 0671709682
* Free Culture is ISBN 1594200068
If you want to customize the location of the search, you must change the '''locg''' parameter. <code>locg=1</code> searches across all the MLVC MVLC rather than a specific library to cast the widest net - and of course you can always ask for the material to be loaned to your local library. The Merrimack Valley Library Consortium includes the towns of # Amesbury# Andover# Billerica# Boxford# Burlington# Carlisle# Chelmsford# Dracut# Dunstable# Essex# Georgetown# Groton# Groveland# Hamilton-Wenham# Haverhill# Ipswich# Lawrence# Littleton# Lowell# Manchester# Merrimac# Methuen# Middleton# Newbury# Newburyport# North# North# Rockport# Rowley# Salisbury# Tewksbury# Topsfield# Tyngsborough# West# Westford# Wilmington
[[Category:Library]]