Thursday, August 2, 2007

Week 5, Thing 11 - It's a Library Thing



I looked at LibraryThing and created an account. Cool. I could really spend some time playing with this! http://www.librarything.com/catalog/gumushlu

I added five titles from my home library, but was stymied by the various editions listed. I chose what might be closest to the books I have, but if I get serious about this, I'd have to check to see exactly what I've got. It was interesting to see that no one else had listed more than one of "my" titles, so I added a couple more (one of which I don't actually own), and did see that a few others had also listed two of my new list.

I like the links to authors' websites. Too bad most of the books I own are by dead people who are just not very digitally savvy. However, photos of 2/7 of my authors did appear, and I did know who was who in the photos.

It seems to me that the people most enthusiastic about Library Thing are probably more interested in "which edition"- type information; more librarian-y than I (though some people think I'm pretty librarian-y). The books that I own are often slightly worn "reader's copies," often "ex-lib" (now there's a real surprise!); titles that I'll want to reread and expect will not be readily available at a library - why keep something you can easily borrow? I already have a logical classification system, so don't need a new one. I already swap recommended titles and actual books with a number of people whose tastes are similar, so I'm not sure I need to find out what some stranger in Oregon likes to read just because he/ she owns several of the books I also own. But it's still fun to play with, and I've recommended it to one of my book-swapping buddies.

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