LibraryThing is an online community which allows book-lovers to catalog their libraries digitally. With millions of books to choose from, you can easily record every book you've ever read as well as keep track of those you plan on reading in the future.
Adding books to your library is fairly simple. You can search by title, author, or ISBN number through any of the multitude of libraries provided to you, including the Library of Congress. You can also search through all 5 national Amazon sites. An added bonus to these searches is you not only see the title and author, but also frequently the cover art as well. Once you find the book and add (all with just one click) you can quickly edit the book for your library adding tags to help keep your books organized. The only downside to searches that I've found so far, is that after clicking on a book to add, you can't easily go back to the last page of your search. Instead you must begin the search from the beginning. Not a huge problem, but if your trying to add many books from the same author, it definitely can get a little tedious this way. I have since discovered that you can view an authors actual page with a list of their books. This adds a few more steps to the process as you then need to click on the book which brings you to that page, and then click on the add book button which brings up the search page and then you can add as described above. In any event, there are many different ways to add books, and none of them are overly difficult (and even a bit fun at times). My favorite way to find books to add is to click on a tag and search through book covers on shelves.
Arguably the funnest part of this site is the social aspect. With around 1.4 million users, you can find people with similar libraries and get suggestions from people who like to read what you do. In fact, you'll find some libraries that are scary similar to your own (who woulda thunk!!)
This site has literally countless other features, and I have only scratched the surface so far.They have the Legacy Library which catalogs the libraries of famous people throughout history. They have forums and groups to join, as well as a local section detailing bookstores and libraries near you. Best of all, the have the Early Reviewers program where you can apply to receive advance copies of books from publishers in exchange for writing a review for them. Stay tuned for future posts going into depth on some of these extras, as well as others, as I investigate them further.
Arguably the funnest part of this site is the social aspect. With around 1.4 million users, you can find people with similar libraries and get suggestions from people who like to read what you do. In fact, you'll find some libraries that are scary similar to your own (who woulda thunk!!)This site has literally countless other features, and I have only scratched the surface so far.They have the Legacy Library which catalogs the libraries of famous people throughout history. They have forums and groups to join, as well as a local section detailing bookstores and libraries near you. Best of all, the have the Early Reviewers program where you can apply to receive advance copies of books from publishers in exchange for writing a review for them. Stay tuned for future posts going into depth on some of these extras, as well as others, as I investigate them further.
Are you a part of the LibraryThing community? Leave a comment below and share your experiences with us!
I have looked at library thing but I have not joined, I use good reads but perhaps I should have another look at library thing. Good reads is very similar.
ReplyDeleteYou definitly should, I really like it so far. I haven't checked out Good Reads yet so I'll have to head over and see what it's about. Thanks for the tip! :)
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