I’m tempted to start a series of posts on this topic: Toronto Public Library Catalogue failures.  What errors in cataloguing do I discover when using the library today?

Today I wanted to put a hold on one of our favourite books, LIBRARY LION by Michelle Knudsen.  The library’s system appeared to no longer carry the title (only an audio book version, and a reference copy).  We managed to find it during our visit though, checked it out and from my lists of checked out materials it gives me the link to the holding.  The link points to an event for Chinese Folk Dance happening in May.  Fail.

We also read a great children’s book by Neil Gaiman today and I wanted to find it again so I looked through all Neil Gaiman’s children’s books and it wasn’t in the list.  Odd.  I managed to remember part of the name, and found the book with a different search: BLUEBERRY GIRL.  I wonder why it’s not listed as a children’s book, and if he has done other children’s books that I won’t be able to discover too?

To round things out, earlier in the week I had read the amazing SUMMIT OF THE GODS Volume 1 and wanted to get the next volume.  I was on the record for the book already so I clicked through to the author, Baku, Yumemakura., but this was the only book they had.  I figured the subsequent volume wasn’t out yet, or hadn’t been acquired and was going to end my journey there when I had a feeling to try something else.  I went through via the illustrator instead and there it was, Volume 2!  With a duplicate entry for the author (one with birth year, one without).  A fault of the MARC record, or lazy cataloguers?