Hello again. I know you thought that maybe you'd heard enough from me today, but I'm working the late shift at the library and am using this time to "burn rubber" through some things on this list. I am so very excited to have gotten to the LibraryThing portion of this project because I sure do like LibraryThing. I alluded a bit to its usefulness in a previous posting (see thing #14 posting, but I'm also going to elaborate here). It's a great way for librarians and non-librarians alike to catalog what's on their bookshelf. I've taken a crack at it and cataloged a few of my books. I'll add the rest of my collection at a later date, but this will just give you a taste of my small collection....you see, i don't own many books because I use the public library for all my reading needs, and I do read a lot. i can't possibly afford to buy all the books I read, so I would love to give a big virtual hug to libraries all over the world right now. I love you, libraries. Did I happen to mention that I'm a librarian?
Oh, how I ramble......anywho, i was talking about LibraryThing and its wonderfulness. So, you can catalog your own collection of books and use your own tags when doing so. This is of the mindset that books are cataloged by users for users. I am most certainly not knocking cataloging by librarians (because did I mention also that i catalog?), it's just that all users are not always going to find materials cataloged via subject headings or via the way a librarian thinks. SF State Library found a great way to use the "collective" mind of LibraryThing users, and integrated this wonderful app into their catalog. Anything that SF State Library owns that has also been cataloged in LibraryThing is searchable via tags, or via the terminology of the LT masses, within the library catalog. Users can also modify their search using the tag clouds in the catalog record. Lookie here for more information on LT at SF State's J. Paul Leonard Library.
So, that's my take on LibraryThing. I went the extra step and placed the LT widget in my sidebar. Thing #19........check, please.
Oh, how I ramble......anywho, i was talking about LibraryThing and its wonderfulness. So, you can catalog your own collection of books and use your own tags when doing so. This is of the mindset that books are cataloged by users for users. I am most certainly not knocking cataloging by librarians (because did I mention also that i catalog?), it's just that all users are not always going to find materials cataloged via subject headings or via the way a librarian thinks. SF State Library found a great way to use the "collective" mind of LibraryThing users, and integrated this wonderful app into their catalog. Anything that SF State Library owns that has also been cataloged in LibraryThing is searchable via tags, or via the terminology of the LT masses, within the library catalog. Users can also modify their search using the tag clouds in the catalog record. Lookie here for more information on LT at SF State's J. Paul Leonard Library.
So, that's my take on LibraryThing. I went the extra step and placed the LT widget in my sidebar. Thing #19........check, please.
posted by Michele Alaniz at
8:34 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Michele,
I too LOVE LibraryThing. Did you check out their "Conversations" for dialoging with others? I think the "Reviews" feature offers good ideas on how to use material in classroom settings. Pat
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