Welcome to iHCPL. This site was created as an adjunct to Harris County Public Library's iHCPL Learning 2.0 Program; a discovery learning program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies and reward them for doing 23 Things. In addition to our staff, we would like to encourage our customers to explore these same technologies. The program is adapted from The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County's Learning 2.0 Program.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

Are you a book lover or cataloger at heart? Or do you enjoy finding lost or forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you! Developed for book lovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online account and catalog of your own, it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes.

Add a book to your catalog just by entering the title -- it's so easy you don't even need to be a cataloger to do it -- or connect with other readers through your similar reading tastes. There are lots of ways to use Library Thing. You can view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget to display titles that are in your catalog or install a search box on your blog.

So, why not join the ranks and create your own library online? With over 240,000 members (BTW: LibraryThing has a group forum for librarians and over 16 million cataloged books) you're bound to discover something new.


LibraryThing is not the only personal cataloging application out there. You might also try All Consuming (not only catalog books, but music, movies and even meals!) or Goodreads.


Discovery Resources:

About LibraryThing

Tour LibraryThing

Blogging LibraryThing

Discovery Exercise:

  1. Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.
  2. Add at least 5 books to your library.
  3. Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog.


Put a Librarything widget on your blog. (optional)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I saw your blog post while I was doing a Google Blog Search, and I quote you on the buzz page - hope you don't mind!

You can contact me at lindsey@librarything.com, if you'd like.

Lindsey, Assistant Librarian at LibraryThing