Thing 16: Library Thing

This is a wonderful place for book lovers! I started a catalog of my home library, entering about five titles. I liked the option to select LC cataloging rather than Amazon for precision, though I didn't take advantage of it yet. I can go back if I decide to use it. I used several tags, including "autographed", as I want to be able to identify which of my books are autographed by the author. The next day there were several suggested books that I had read or want to read, just from that small sampling. I can see that I need to enter more of my library to narrow down the "50 libraries most like mine" list. That will be interesting to peruse--I expect to get lots of titles I will want to read. I have started a list of books I have read from titles that are popping up, and plan to start a list of books I want to read. The groups were interesting, especially Librarians who Library Thing. I spent too much time in there. I was interested in the discussion thread on whether or not to keep Dewey classification, as at least one library in our area is experimenting with browsable collections. I agreed with most of the folks posting -- I think we should keep Dewey (or LC if that is used) and add useful signage, such as "cookbooks" or "history". I also wasted way too much time reading the thread on annoying things that patrons do. LOL. They were all the same things our patrons do or say, and sounded alot like a staff group sitting around the table in our staff lounge.

This site also has real potential for cataloging a small library, and Thingology has useful information for those libraries or anyone serious about cataloging their collection, such as ThingLang, ISBN Check, and MARCThing. Book discussion groups can even be started for their library users. This is a good example of using both traditional cataloging and tagging to catalog and access material. I am looking forward to using Library Thing and participating more actively at some point.