Over the weekend, I looked at LibraryThing and Shelfari. I had run across those names before and had no idea that it had anything to do with a book networking site. To me I thought Librarything was about a library monster and Shelfari was some sort of safari. As it turns out they are both places for storing and sharing books. Sorry, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t some wild crazy site about libraries. Is there such a site about libraries? Anyway, I decided that I didn’t want to sign up for both, so I chose LibraryThing because I had heard of it more often.
LibraryThing- It was relatively easy to sign up for. You give a user name and password and you’re on. Next I spent a few hours just trying to figure out what it was all about. There is a lot to read and a lot of text on the main page…maybe a little overwhelming. On the home page I like the Group suggestions, Popular this month, Hot reviews, Top wishlisted books, and what members are reading. This tells me what great books are out there and tells me more than Amazon or Chapters. For some reason, the site knows where I live and this pops up everywhere. I don’t recall telling them my address, so it kind or bothers me! I took a Very Short Introduction to LibraryThing and learned a few tips, but I think it is something that you need to play with in order to figure it out. I made my own mini library with a few of the books I had lying around the family room. I was surprised it was so easy to do. You simply type in the ISBN and the book pops up. I put in a few tags, but I haven’t figured out how to give them a rating yet. This site also tells you what local events are going on in your area. So far, there has been nothing going on? I will try and play with LibraryThing little more in order to figure out how to display children’s books. For now, it looks like an adult book sharing site that I will be using for my own personal reasons and for sharing reviews with friends at the my Book Licker’s Monthly Club.
If this was available for students it would be an excellent educational tool! They could add their recommendations, share with others, read and write their own reviews. The teacher would have everything under one roof for evaluation and students would love it! This is something that I will look into for next year!
Here is a link to my catalogue! http://www.librarything.com/catalog/vhspen1
Oh, No! I have made a terrible mistake!!!! Shelfari is awesome!!!! Wow, it is so much cleaner, brighter and simpler than LibraryThing. I love the size of the books and the little book shelf you can create! When you hold the mouse over the book jacket, up pops a quick preview, a rating and how many members have read it. It looks like you can do basically the same things with each site, but the main page in Shelfari is more visually appealing and user friendly. I believe that I will have to switch over to Shelfari and say good-bye to LibraryThing!
Get a load of Neil Gaiman’s bookshelves: http://blog.shelfari.com/my_weblog/2009/09/neil.html
Here are some reviews of LibraryThing and Shelfari: http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2006/10/librarything-shelfari-and-gurulib.html
There are good and bad things about each. Shelfari doesn’t have separate groups and communities like LibraryThing, but Shelfari lets you input any many books are you like. I guess it depends on your preference. I know that I don’t have time to keep both going though.
So many things to do….so little time…
Valerie
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