LibraryThing, I Think I Love You.

As alluded to in my Librarian Trading Card, I am slowly cataloging my book collection using a web-based tool called LibraryThing. (See my library here or view a random sample from my library in the sidebar to the right of this blog or take a tour of the service.) Because the catalog I am creating exists on the web, I am connected to all the other LibraryThing users. Thus LibraryThing is yet another social networking tool. When I add a book to my catalog, I ask the site to draw bibliographic data from one of over 45 cataloging sources, including Amazon and the Library of Congress. I can then modify any of that information as I see fit. I can also apply tags to my books à la Del.icio.us. What it amounts to is a real-time, still evolving experiment in how the traditional library catalog can be adapted for the use of individual readers. Some users' catalogs include self-penned reviews, rating systems and further reading recommendations. The still-evolving part includes an ongoing community discussion about how to deal with the traditional problems of bibliographic decription (i.e. how to include all editions of a book as a single work), much of which is chronicled on the site's blog. The site is growing rapidly from its origins as the "pet project" of (former) graduate student Tim Spaulding. (Currently it is experiencing hiccups due to a scheduled migration to new servers.) For now, however, one can still catalog up to 200 books for free.