Week 8: Thing #19 Check Out LibraryThing

I love LibraryThing. I have a lifetime membership and many books on my virtual shelves. Scanning barcodes from my cell phone to LibraryThing has become a whole hobby. At Costco, I scan to see if I read the paperback title, released again because of the author's newest hardcover title. How many times have I taken a "new" title home, just to realize, seven pages in, that I know this book? Share books with friends? Look at lists of books catalogued by other readers. Mobile LibraryThing is my absolute favorite cell phone app.

Early Reviewers is a great resource and I have received several books--the books are free, members request the titles they are interested in owning, and magically, if you win the lottery, the book comes in the mail. Book recipients are asked to add a review to the selection. What fun. This year, they offered SantaThing--members can sign up to send books to a secret pal and receive books back. It did not go off without a hitch--in fact, people were still receiving their books in late February. The tags, book cover searches, all personalize my site--and make it useful to others. Mining lists from other users is also a great way to add to my library. At this point, my LibraryThing represents a short list of my lifetime reading and has little to do with my physical library, either at work or home.

LibraryThing now offers catalog enhancements, available by mobile, to holdings in libraries all over the place including Los Gatos, CA. On their record the LibraryThing.com entry for the Glass Castle looked like this:

Reviews from LibraryThing.com: Enhanced Content:Editorial Reviews
 see reviews/add a review 272 reviews (  ) 

According to the Bowker article on "How Libraries are using LibraryThing," libraries can subscribe to packages and services that can add value to library records., including reader's advisory, tag-based discovery, and patron and LibraryThing reviews.  This is the short list--many other enhancements are available. The implication is, I think, that the user/patron can be more in control of their own searches, less dependent on the library staff to decipher MARC record content and searches. Whether that results in better information for the patron will decide on long-term usage.

Another development of interest:  Koha and Evergreen are just two of many open source online library catalogs available to small libraries. I checked out the offerings available at the Sitka, Alaska library, which uses Evergreen.  The catalogs search all sorts of media, and list a variety of relative hits, offering less expensive OPACs and circulation services to smaller libraries. The interface is appealing and efficient, though a little slower than what I am used to through either my public or school catalogs. Seems like a wave from the future.

I also belong to Goodreads, which I use for more of a book club atmosphere, sharing current reads and recommending new favorites to old friends. It has a cozier interface, though advertising is becoming an issue.