LibraryThing and Our Catalog Part 1

What is LibraryThing?
LibraryThing is a web application that allows people to create and share their personal book collections. To see an example, you can visit Diana Gabaldon’s LibraryThing collection. I've been using LibraryThing as my personal library organizer since 2006 and have been very impressed with it.

In addition to adding books to their collection, LibraryThing allows its users to write reviews, add tags to books, and compare their personal library with other users.

What is LibraryThing for Libraries?
LibraryThing aggregates all the personalization users add to their catalogs, such as tags and reviews, and sells this information to libraries. Unlike Novelist, LibraryThing will only link to books that our library district owns.

What Information in our catalog comes from LibraryThing?
LibraryThing “widgets” are found on the detailed information page for each book. They include:

• Similar Books
• Other Editions
• Reviews
• Shelf Browse
• Tags

The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book offers a good example of all of these features.

Similar Books
One of our LibraryThing widgets is called “Similar Books.” However, this is a misnomer. Instead, these book lists are closer to an “if you like this book, you might also like . . .” list. Sometimes these books are actually similar to the current book but sometimes the books are just owned by the people with similar book collections. For example, consider the suggestions for Who Wants Candy? by Jane Sharrock. The suggestions are The Ultimate Candy Book, Candyfreak, Sweets, Candy and me, and Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot. Only the first suggestion, The Ultimate Candy Book, is a recipe book like Who Wants Candy?. However, those that like making candy may also enjoy reading about the history of candy which is where the other suggestions are useful. Clicking on any of the books listed will take you to more information on that book.

Other Editions
When viewing the detailed information for a title, LibraryThing will search our catalog to see if any other editions are available. If they are, LibraryThing will list these books in the left column. Clicking on the title of one of the books will take you to more information on it. This is particularly useful if your original book has no copies available for checkout. For an example, see Caught by Harlan Coben.

Shelf Browse
Shelf Browse is our newest LibraryThing feature. It allows you to virtually browse books similar to browsing books in a physical library. This is particularly useful for information books as similar subjects are often shelved near each other. For example, when I go to the detailed information for Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, it shows me the book covers for other books on solving sleep problems in children. Click Explore the virtual shelf browser: Full Screen to see even more books.

In my next post, I'll discuss LibraryThing Reviews and tags