Library Thing

I've been hearing about Library Thing for a while. Then I saw it mentioned at the bottom of books I looked up in the Simmons College Catalog. There were "tags" and info about the book from Library Thing after the "normal" cataloging. How cool! I thought of my daughter who loves to collect autographed children's books and types lists of them up so she can keep track of what she has. She would probably love this site, so I finally decided to check it out - thanks to the impetus of this blog assignment.

The site is www.librarything.com and I signed up tonight. I can see why it's become so popular. If you love books, it's an online haven. It's free for the first 200 books you post. A lifetime membership is only $25. It's a way to organize your library and "meet" other people who love the same kinds of books you do. (Or I suppose you could hang out with people who don't like the kinds of books you do.) There are "chat" groups, lists of books that are recommended, ways for you to post reviews, rate books, see what people on the site are reading, all sorts of things. You can link your list of books to your blog! (Does everyone have a blog?)

I added four books - it was so easy. I just typed out the title or author of the book and the site brought up a photo of the book cover and the title and author plus other info about the book from Amazon (or you can choose Library of Congress). I clicked on the title and there is was - on my list. I didn't take the time to rate my books, write a review of them, or pick tags for them. But I will. This is fun! I found out immediately that 548 other people on LibraryThing have picked "The Sex Lives of Cannibals," too. (It's not really about sex. Just a little. And there's not too much about cannibals either. Just a little. It's a true story about a couple who live on a far away atol in the South Pacific for two years and how they get used to pigs on the airplane runways and getting along without coffee.)

If I keep typing in books I have read and liked, I imagine I'll eventually find the 10 people on Library Thing who have the same taste in books that I do. They'll have names like Ballyman, Lunar, SpongeBobFishPants, and What'sOnMyCamera. (I'm not making these up - they're on the site!)

When I read on the site that one thing among many you can now do once you set up your book catalog is to pull your list of books up while you're in a bookstore on your cell phone and consult it before you make a purchase. LibraryThing can also help you make your next purchase. I think my daughter will really like this site. And me too. (Am I finally going web 2.0?)