Your books want a social network: Web site helps bibliophiles connect
LibraryThing creator speaks about site that has become "Facebook for books"
Kathleen Dame
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: News
Look out, book club.
With the Portland, Maine based Web site LibraryThing growing daily, bibliophiles may soon abandon weekly meetings in favor of their personal computers.
LibraryThing creator Tim Spalding developed the site to catalog his personal library. Now, nearly 400,000 members are part of the LibraryThing community.
The site, which has been dubbed the "Facebook for books," allows members not only to list the books they own, but also to review them, rate them, find like-minded friends and make reading recommendations.
On Tuesday, UMaine's Fogler Library staff scrambled to find more chairs as people filed into the Special Collections Department to hear Spalding speak.
More than 50 people attended the afternoon event.
"This is one of my bigger audiences, although one of the smaller rooms," Spalding joked.
Spalding spent the first half of the discussion giving what he termed a "straight product demo" of his site via projection screen, leading audience members through LibraryThing's features.
In this presentation, Spalding showed his profile, including fields that allow members to highlight their favorite authors, bookstores and libraries.
Steve Evans, associate professor of English, said he learned some new tidbits about the site, adding that Spalding's sense of humor "enlivened the whole presentation."
"My admiration for LibraryThing held steady," Evans said. "I learned about some of its features that I, as a user, seldom spend time with."
Evans said the discussion helped him realize how helpful it is that the site lets users tag their own books.
"I thought Spalding made a great case for ... the categories that 'thingamabrarians' invent as they tag their various books," Evans said.
"Despite a life spent in libraries," he said, "I hadn't fully appreciated how counterintuitive or even misleading the official Library of Congress subject headings can often be."
Evans, whose department co-sponsored the event, also added. "We're hoping to carry the momentum from this successful collaboration between English, the Fogler [Library] and New Media into future programming."
For his part, Honors College Dean Charlie Slavin said he may incorporate LibraryThing into the Honor College's yearly readings selection process.
"I hadn't really been aware of LibraryThing," Slavin said. "It's never been part of the process. As for the future, who knows?"
Those interested in sharing their libraries may create a free or paid account. No information is required but a username and password.
With the Portland, Maine based Web site LibraryThing growing daily, bibliophiles may soon abandon weekly meetings in favor of their personal computers.
LibraryThing creator Tim Spalding developed the site to catalog his personal library. Now, nearly 400,000 members are part of the LibraryThing community.
The site, which has been dubbed the "Facebook for books," allows members not only to list the books they own, but also to review them, rate them, find like-minded friends and make reading recommendations.
On Tuesday, UMaine's Fogler Library staff scrambled to find more chairs as people filed into the Special Collections Department to hear Spalding speak.
More than 50 people attended the afternoon event.
"This is one of my bigger audiences, although one of the smaller rooms," Spalding joked.
Spalding spent the first half of the discussion giving what he termed a "straight product demo" of his site via projection screen, leading audience members through LibraryThing's features.
In this presentation, Spalding showed his profile, including fields that allow members to highlight their favorite authors, bookstores and libraries.
Steve Evans, associate professor of English, said he learned some new tidbits about the site, adding that Spalding's sense of humor "enlivened the whole presentation."
"My admiration for LibraryThing held steady," Evans said. "I learned about some of its features that I, as a user, seldom spend time with."
Evans said the discussion helped him realize how helpful it is that the site lets users tag their own books.
"I thought Spalding made a great case for ... the categories that 'thingamabrarians' invent as they tag their various books," Evans said.
"Despite a life spent in libraries," he said, "I hadn't fully appreciated how counterintuitive or even misleading the official Library of Congress subject headings can often be."
Evans, whose department co-sponsored the event, also added. "We're hoping to carry the momentum from this successful collaboration between English, the Fogler [Library] and New Media into future programming."
For his part, Honors College Dean Charlie Slavin said he may incorporate LibraryThing into the Honor College's yearly readings selection process.
"I hadn't really been aware of LibraryThing," Slavin said. "It's never been part of the process. As for the future, who knows?"
Those interested in sharing their libraries may create a free or paid account. No information is required but a username and password.
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