Have you ever happened upon a book in a store and wondered if you could get it for free at your library? Now, with an iPhone and the free pic2shop app, you can scan a book’s barcode and find which libraries have it. Watch below to see how it works.

To help the app find items in libraries near to you, be sure to choose Preferences and select “Auto-detect for local results.” Then, scan your book’s barcode and choose “See local libraries” to see which libraries in WorldCat own the book. You can also email the link to the product information or a list of items you have recently scanned.

We’ll profile more apps in the coming weeks, including others that work with WorldCat data to show which libraries have a book you might find at a friend’s, in a professor’s office, or on a well-appointed coffee table. Have a tip on an app we should cover? Please comment.


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