Social cataloging web application
LibraryThing
|
Type of site
| Catalog and community
|
---|
Owner
| |
---|
Created by
| Tim Spalding
|
---|
URL
| www
.librarything
.com
|
---|
Registration
| Free
|
---|
Launched
| August 29, 2005
; 18 years ago
(
2005-08-29
)
|
---|
Current status
| Active
|
---|
LibraryThing
is a
social cataloging
web application
for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book
metadata
. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers.
Based in
Portland, Maine
,
[1]
LibraryThing was developed by Tim Spalding and went live on August 29, 2005, on a
freemium
subscriber business model, because "it was important to have customers, not an 'audience' we sell to advertisers." They focused instead on making a series of products for academic libraries. Motivated by the cataloguing opportunities and financial challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the service went "free to all" on March 8, 2020, while maintaining a promise never to use advertising on registered users.
[2]
As of February 2021,
[update]
it has 2,600,000 users and more than 155 million books catalogued,
[3]
drawing data from Amazon and from thousands of libraries that use the
Z39.50
cataloguing protocol.
Features
[
edit
]
The primary feature of LibraryThing (LT) is the cataloging of books, movies, music and other media by importing data from libraries through
Z39.50
connections and from six
Amazon.com
stores. Library sources supply
Dublin Core
and
MARC
records to LT; users can import information from over 2000 libraries, including the
British Library
,
Canadian National Catalogue
,
Library of Congress
,
National Library of Australia
, and
Yale University
.
[4]
Should a record not be available from any of these sources, it is also possible to input the book information manually via a blank form.
[5]
Each work may comprise different editions, translations, printings, audio versions, etc. Members are encouraged to add publicly visible reviews, descriptions, Common Knowledge and other information about a work; ratings, collections and tags help categorization. Discussion in the forums is also encouraged.
Items are classified using the Melvil Decimal System, based on the out-of-copyright 1922 edition of the
Dewey Decimal Classification
with modifications for standard spelling of division names (as opposed to the original names, which were spelled in accordance with Dewey's
advocated spelling reforms
), and modernised terminology.
[6]
Social features
[
edit
]
LibraryThing's social features have been compared to bookmark manager
Del.icio.us
[7]
and the collaborative music service
Last.fm
.
[8]
Similar book cataloging sites include
aNobii
,
BookLikes
,
Goodreads
,
Libib
,
Shelfari
(now merged with Goodreads), and weRead.
[9]
TinyCat
[
edit
]
In 2016, LibraryThing launched TinyCat, an
OPAC
designed for the cataloging and circulation of libraries of up to 20,000 items.
[10]
TinyCat is marketed towards small independent libraries, such as schools, community centers, religious institutions, and academic departments, as well as individuals.
[11]
Ownership
[
edit
]
LibraryThing is majority owned by founder Tim Spalding.
[12]
Online bookseller
AbeBooks
bought a 40% share in LibraryThing in May 2006 for an undisclosed sum. AbeBooks became a subsidiary of Amazon in 2008.
[13]
In January 2009,
Cambridge Information Group
acquired a minority stake in LibraryThing, and their subsidiary
Bowker
became the official distributor to libraries.
[12]
Publicity
[
edit
]
At the end of June 2006, LibraryThing was subject to the
Slashdot effect
from a
Wall Street Journal
article.
[14]
The site's developers added servers to compensate for the increased traffic. In December of the same year, the site received yet more attention from
Slashdot
over its UnSuggester feature, which draws suggestions from books least likely to appear in the same catalog as a given book.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"LibraryThing ? Send us money"
.
- ^
"LibraryThing Is Now Free to All ≪ The LibraryThing Blog"
.
blog.librarything.com
. Retrieved
March 30,
2022
.
- ^
"Zeitgeist Overview"
. LibraryThing
. Retrieved
February 8,
2021
.
- ^
"Add books to your library"
. Retrieved
June 3,
2008
.
- ^
"Manual Entry"
. Retrieved
October 13,
2010
.
- ^
Spalding, Tim (August 19, 2010).
"Introducing the "Melvil Decimal System"
"
.
LibraryThing
. Retrieved
July 23,
2016
.
- ^
Regan, Jim (November 9, 2005).
"Do your own LibraryThing"
.
Christian Science Monitor
. Retrieved
March 13,
2007
.
- ^
Bain, Alistair (April 28, 2007).
"LibraryThing"
.
Desert of Zin
. Archived from
the original
on November 3, 2011
. Retrieved
June 20,
2007
.
- ^
Woodroof, Martha (March 20, 2008).
"Web Sites Let Bibliophiles Share Books Virtually"
.
NPR
. Retrieved
May 14,
2009
.
- ^
"Introducing TinyCat: The OPAC for Tiny Libraries"
.
LibraryThing Blog
. April 5, 2016
. Retrieved
June 26,
2016
.
- ^
Klein, Loren (August 19, 2015).
"New LibraryThing OPAC, TinyCat, Announced"
.
Public Libraries Online
. Retrieved
June 26,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"CIG Acquires Minority Stake in LibraryThing; Bowker to Distribute to Libraries"
. Archived from
the original
on August 5, 2009
. Retrieved
April 3,
2013
.
- ^
Davies, Richard (May 16, 2006).
"Abebooks.com Acquires Major Stake In Librarything.com ? A Social Networking Site For Bibliophiles"
.
AbeBooks.com
. Archived from
the original
on August 26, 2016.
- ^
Rutkoff, Aaron (June 27, 2006).
"Social Networking for Bookworms"
.
Wall Street Journal
. Retrieved
December 15,
2006
.
- ^
"Unsuggester: Finding the Book You'll Never Want"
.
Slashdot
. December 4, 2006
. Retrieved
December 15,
2006
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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