Thing 16: Library Thing
Books, books – oh what a marvelous thing are books. It is reaffirming to the soul to know there are so many book lovers out in the Web 2.0 world. All those predictions about books disappearing – I’m still confident it won’t happen. Haven’t tried a Kindle yet to see if I’d enjoy reading a book on a small screen…may borrow a friend’s to “test”…….
Library Thing is such a joy for a book lover. Again, the importance of tagging and having tag clouds is confirmed with this Web 2.0 tool. It’s how a true book lover makes a treasure availble to others – by providing concise, meaningful keywords so others can discover this print resoucre. The variety of ways to search for book titles is wonderful as well as having library-quality information regarding each title. To know one can use the reource without joining is an added plus. but then to know one can catalog one’s personal collection – is also a plus.
I enjoyed using the Suggester feature of Book Thing. When I searched two of my favorite authors, I came across suggestions of titles I can try since I had read a particular title. I like having feedback from individuals who have read the book then offer their worthwhile suggestions for other titles similar to the original. I’ve already written down 2 titles I need to find – hopefully, at the public library.
One way, professionally, I’ve seen Library Thing used is as a log of titles read during a school year. Students were required to keep a log of the titles they read throughout the school year. The media specialist decided to keep a log of all the titles she read during the same school year. She made her reading log in Library Thing and made it avaialble for students to view – to see if they had read any of the same titles. It sparked discusiion between the media specialist and the students – also sharing of titles the students recommended to the media specialist to not only read but purchase for the media center.
Two ways I feel I’ll use Library Thing personally:
- I would love to catalog the titles I own. Then when I’m out and about, I can verify if I own the particular title already. With so many personal books ( and with aging), the memory’s not always accurate. This would prevent me from hearing “Don’t you have a copy of that already?”
- I’m really going to use the Suggester feature of Library Thing. I love having others’ suggestions of recommended titles that are similar in style to what I’ve read. Great feature!!
