This Valentine's day I am hopelessly in love with Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. This electronic resource is available from any of our locations and can also be accessed from home with your library card.

In addition to 250,000 full text poems and 450,000 citations, Columbia Granger's offers an extensive taxonomy of 6,000 subject headings.

To demonstrate Columbia Granger's rich and sophisticated hierarchy of subjects, search and browse this database for poems about Love. Columbia Granger's currently distinguishes between eighteen types of Love. Love-related subject headings cover abstract topics, such as Nature of Love, Divine Love, as well as very specific situations, such as Love Triangles, Unrequited Love and Unspoken Love. This organizational feature allows any user to speedily proceed from poems about Unspoken Love to those containing Declarations of Love. With fifty-six full-text declarations there is a good chance that you will find a verse that closely matches your sentiments. It would be very difficult for an object of your affection to resist a poem titled "Can I let you know what consumes me?" Few people will fail to appreciate a heartfelt expression of an emotion, even if it's not authored by you.

Determined researchers with a purpose tend to reduce any search to a number of very specific terms. For those who wish to use the advanced search option, Columbia Granger's World of Poetry provides a number of search limiters. Content of your inquiry can be narrowed down by poet's nationality, cultural identity, language, school of poetry and a very specific historical time period. The trouble with any narrowly defined search for love is the scarcity of available results.

My advice to anyone searching for love is to avoid a search that is too specific. If you are willing to expand your search parameters by reducing a number of search terms and by removing some of the limiters, your search will result in a greater number of potential discoveries. To avoid further frustration, remember that titles that appear promising often lack full text. Unless you are prepared to search for the complete poem online or with other reference sources, always limit your search to poems with text. Browsing through what is already available often tends to be more productive than targeted search.

To start browsing Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, use the browse option on the upper right corner and select an expandable category. You can browse this database by the source of a poem, school of poetry, specific era or even a biography. Browsing through poetry source is always rewarding. Poetry sources of Columbia Granger's contain a number of interesting anthologies. A Book of Love Poetry, A Little Book of Comfort, An Uninhibited Treasury of Erotic Poetry, and An Anthology of World Poetry are among them.

When browsing by the subject, be aware of the fact that love often reveals itself under very unexpected subject headings. I was pleasantly surprised by a number of love poems while browsing a conveniently expandable category of Human Condition. After expanding Human Condition by clicking on a small plus sign next to it, I decided to investigate a subject of Aging. "To love all ages yield surrender," claims a poet, but I was not entirely optimistic after Aging expanded into a single category of Old Age. Old age contained a variety of ailments, conditions and necessary living arrangements. Is there no hope for love in Old Age? Desperate in my quest, I turned to Boldness. My move was richly rewarded by a wonderful discovery. Self-deprecating "The Bald Truth" by Bob Hicok celebrates the triumph of love over banal vanity.

If you didn't have any luck finding poems that address you current sentiments and experiences, try browsing for love under very specific subject headings . Depending on your particular current situation, your search for love poetry might be covered by the following subject headings: Availability, Charm, Chivalry, Cheating and Cheaters, Cupidity, Bores, Bitterness, Celibacy, Dating, Desire, Disdain, Divorce, Ecstasy, Ex-lovers, Flirtation, Family life, Fidelity, Freedom, Joy, Hippies (under Bohemian Life), Honeymoons, Hugs and Hugging, Husbands, Intimacy, Lies and Lying, Longing, Narcissism, Obsessions, Opposites, Passion, Sensuality, Slander and Variety.

Columbia Granger's conveniently provides its users with a personal account. You can store discovered poems and sort them into personal or public lists.

It's never too late to establish a long-lasting and rewarding relationship with Columbia Granger's World of Poetry.