Calil, A One-Stop Real Time Book Searching of Over 4300 Libraries + Amazon
Calil.jp provides one-stop book searching of over 4300 libraries all over Japan together with Amazon database in real time, the website was officially launch on 10 March 2010. Users can cross search multiple libraries for specific books and their availability for borrowing.
A users can specify a search from one specific library or a number of libraries, such as all libraries in Tokyo area. The website will return information such as “Not in library collection”, “In Library collection (Not for loan)”, “In library collection (On loan now)”, “In library collection (Available for borrow)”, etc, for each of the libraries. If the book is available for borrowing, the user can reserve the book by entering library membership details.
It search Amazon database and show if they have the book and how much.
There also four other major functions:
Popular Books: It shows all current popular books and at the same time check if they are available in specified libraries, and the current status of the books.
Authors: Search book by authors, and again will check for availability.
Library Maps: Search library by prefectures and towns. It will show the physical address, telephone number, web address details along with a Google map of the location of the library. It will also list the libraries in the vicinity and their distances from current library.
Want to Read List: In a book search, there are two buttons under each book, “Want to Read” & “Read”. Users can record their reading history, reserved book list, also their library list after signing in. Users can then print out or send the lists to their mobile phone. It will be much easier to find favorite books or reserved books once their get into the library. Users can log in using Google, Yahoo Japan and Mixi account.
There is also an API where developers can create applications to obtain search results, use mobile phone to search the nearest library, etc.
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At the moment, the Japan Library Association already has a OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) system which allows cross library book search and the status of those books. OPAC now covers about 79% public libraries in Japan. However individual library needs to provide this OPAC search on their websites, but the scope and quality of those websites varies greatly. There is no one single entry point for users. And many people don’t even know they can search libraries on the web.
In the future, calil.jp plans to widen their coverage to other online bookstores, publishers, newspapers, library system development company, an affiliate e-book, etc.
Calil.jp service was based on OPAC and was developed by an American company called Nota Inc., which is based in California. One of their most noted products so far is notaland, a collaborative web platform which allows users to create, share and collaborate on presentations and many different forms of online materials.
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