LibraryThing

I've browsed LibraryThing in the past in search of reviews for particular books and suggestions for new books to read, but until now, I've never actually got round to creating my own personal library. I have so many books that it would be a major task to add all of them (and involve paying for the account), so that put me off a bit. However, I've now taken the plunge and so far I've added about 30 books. I like the myriad additional features on offer, including the various groups that can be joined or just watched, the statistics available about every aspect of the use of the site, and the fact that it automatically picked up on my geographical location and provided information about book signings at the Cambridge branch of Waterstones! There are also some interesting projects underway, such as Legacy Libraries, which is an attempt to recreate the libraries of major historical figures.

Looking at some of the examples of libraries who have incorporated LibraryThing data into their OPACs, I can see that it does add a lot to the catalogue records. The addition of Library Thing tags allows a library's holdings to be linked up in new and varied ways, and I think this is particularly useful in relation to fiction titles, which aren't always served very well by Library of Congress Subject Headings. With LibraryThing data incorporated, library users are offered a lot more in the way of pointers to similar books and other titles they might want to read. However, since the tags are totally unregulated, you can get tag clouds with quite a lot of subject repetition in slightly different forms (eg Science Fiction, sci-fi, scifi, sf, sff etc), and this can look a bit scrappy. I think it is a shame that when you add tags to your books, LibraryThing doesn't indicate what other people have already used - in the way that Delicious does when you add tags to your bookmarks. This wouldn't stop anyone adding any sort of tag they liked, but might reduce some of the unnecessary variations on a theme. I know that each individual book page does show the tags assigned to that book, but a little gentle prompting at the point of editing your own collection wouldn't hurt.

 When it comes to King's Library, incorporating LibraryThing data would certainly make our catalogue more colourful, but I think there might be some practical difficulties, such as the fact that we have so many older books without ISBNs which might be more tricky to upload. I also think that unregulated tags may be less helpful when applied to academic works, as there is the risk that they could lead students off on a wild goose chase through irrelevant or only tangentially related titles. However, trying to be balanced about this, it is also true that some of these tangential links could turn out to be useful - serendipity can often play an important role in guiding the direction of someone's research in unanticipated but rewarding directions.

I will definitely be exploring LibraryThing further, and who knows, I may even review a few books, or contribute to the forums. It is definitely a fascinating and useful resource for anyone working with or interested in books.