LibraryThing doesn’t buy, lend or sell books online. It’s not another Amazon.com. LibraryThing connects people through their interests in books. It helps readers get recommendations about what to read next based on selections in their libraries. The Early Reviewer program at the site provides LibraryThing members with books in exchange for a review of the title. There are groups where people discuss books they’ve read and groups where authors discuss books they’ve written. There’s even a group for “Writer-Readers,” attracting those who create as well as consume literature.
LibraryThing was founded in 2005 and now has more than a million accounts. While the site does run on a shoestring budget, it’s underpinned by professional systems and pulls its bibliographic information from a global network of libraries and Amazon.com. LibraryThing relies on Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) and the Z39.50 client-server protocol for searching and retrieving bibliographic information from library databases. When searching for book records in the Middle East, particularly Arabic titles, the Z39.50 connection is used to pull MARC records from the American University of Cairo, the Library for Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, the UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology and the United Arab Emirates University. LibraryThing’s interface is available in Arabic (), and dozens of other languages.
General users don’t need to be concerned about all the technical details of setting up a personal library catalog at LibraryThing. To get started, just create a free account and instantly begin building a book collection. Books are easily added to a personal catalog by entering any information detail about a publication, such as title, author or ISBN into the “Add Book” search box, and the associated records will appear. Another click adds the book record to a personal catalog. Books without ISBNs may be added manually and a bar code scanner or webcam would automate the process. Two hundred books may be added to a personal collection free. If more space for titles is needed, there’s the choice of a $10 annual fee or a $25 lifetime fee that allows for unlimited book cataloging.
While creating a book catalog can be very satisfying for people who love books, it’s only a small part of the offerings at LibraryThing.
“Members can participate in our groups to chat about books or to talk about anything actually,” said Sonya Green, one of the LibraryThing Librarians. “We have a section called ‘local,’ where members are adding all the bookstores and libraries across the world that they can find. Lots of little bookstores don’t have websites, so this is kind of a shingle for them. Authors can come to the site and chat with members about their books and about writing. We’ve just started publishers’ pages, which are official pages for publishers where all their books are organized and members can come and geek out on their favorite publishers.”
Green advised that that it can get very politically heated in some groups, depending on the topic under discussion. The site’s terms of service are very open and members can criticize other members’ ideas or even call those ideas stupid, but attacks against someone personally are not allowed. LibraryThing does not allow participation by children under age 13, as per US law, and a few LibraryThing groups discuss topics of an adult nature.
One of the best parts of LibraryThing is in the site’s ability to help members decide what to read. Books may be tagged with keywords that can give an indication of the book’s content. Since many personal library catalogs may be browsed by any member, it’s easy to see what books a person with similar tastes has read. The site is also packed with book reviews. Authors ask members for reviews and members can post reviews about any book they’ve read.
“LibraryThing members aren’t necessarily professional reviewers,” Green explained. “When they review books they are reviewing them based on their own tastes and interests — not for the world. A reviewer might write that a book, ‘Stunk.’ That’s not a great review, but it certainly is a review. It’s what the individual reviewer thought about it. The personal connection affects the reviewing. That being said, many more people are reviewing books because the reviews are shared and can be found so easily.”
Before a book can be reviewed, it must be written. Newbie authors can find support at LibraryThing. There are many writers groups which get together in the forum system to critique each other’s writing, or talk about writing and publishing, or discuss how to get published. “It’s a very good place for potential writers to start,” Green said.
And there’s even competitive reading. Some members have gotten together for the “75 Books Challenge for 2010,” or the “1010 Categories Challenge.” So far, LibraryThing members have cataloged over 54,828,054 books! If you think you can’t find anything interesting to read, join LibraryThing and discover that the best entertainment is a combination of books and your imagination.