If you use Baker & Taylor for your ordering, I have a tip for you. Our local B&T rep came out and did a training with me and she taught me this. I've become aware that some people don't know about it, so I'm sharing it with all of you!
Say you want to order all the books in a particular series and you want them all in paperback. Or say you're wanting an easy way to bring up all the books in a series so you can fill in the gaps. Search using the B&T Continuations ID.
Step 1) Search for a book in the series and bring up the record in the format you want (i.e. paperback, reinforced, etc.).
Step 2) Click on the "Detail" tab. In the left-hand column, under "Detailed Product Description", about halfway down there is a line that says "B&T Continuation" and has a 10-digit number. Highlight and copy this number. That's the Continuations ID number.
Step 3) Start a new search. In one of the search boxes, select to search for "B&T Continuations ID" and paste in that number you just copied.
This will bring up all the books in the series, in the same format as the first book you searched.
It has changed my life! I use it to tell if a book's in a series (if it's not in a series, it won't have a Continuations ID listed or the number will be all zeros). I use it when I'm purchasing a series we don't have or if I'm filling in gaps in a series we do have. It's an easy way to bring up an entire series so you can add some or all of them to a cart.
And speaking of series, I've mentioned this site before, but I'll put in another plug for the Mid-Continent Public Library's Juvenile Series and Sequels lists. I use these all the time and I have found that they are pretty darn accurate. They list hundreds and hundreds of series. You can search by title (series title or book title), author, or subject. And they list the books in the series in order. This is a great resource to know for answering questions about series or filling in the gaps in your series collections.
