Once you start using WorldCat <www.worldcat.org>, you won't be able to keep your paws off it. Touted as the world's largest library network, this mega-catalog lets you claw through 1 billion items — including genealogy-related books, articles, maps and documents — in 10,000 repositories, making it easy to locate a library that has the items you want. Then just request them through inter library loan to use at your own library.

To begin, enter a book title or a keyword and hit the Search button. A search for texas genealogy turns up more than 7,000 items, including Genealogical Records in Texas by Imogene Kinard Kennedy and J. Leon Kennedy (Genealogical Publishing Co.). Get fewer results by using the Advanced Search to query by keyword, title, author, language of item, format (such as article, book or map) and publication date.