A social cataloging application is a web application designed to help users to catalog things, books, CDs, etc.—owned or otherwise of interest to them. The phrase refers to two characteristics that generally arise from a multi-user cataloging environment:
- The ability to share catalogs and interact with others based upon shared items;
- The enrichment or improvement of cataloging description through either explicit cooperation in the production of cataloging metadata or through the analysis of implicit data (e.g., "People who like X also like Y").
Advantages of Social Cataloging
Social
bookmarking has added a great deal to how information users share their online
resources, however Library Thing has taken social bookmarking and networking to
an entirely new level.LibraryThing at http://www.librarything.com// is a
social network of bibliophiles. It is a Web site to help people catalog their
own books, as well as connects people with the same books, and comes up with
suggestions for what to read next. Its primary feature is the automatic
cataloging of books by importing data from booksellers and libraries through
Z39.50 (Z39.50 is a client server protocol for searching and retrieving
information from remote computer databases).
Users (informally known as thingamabrarians) can catalog
personal collections, keep reading lists, and meet other users who have the
same books. While it is possible to keep a library catalog private, most people
choose to make their catalogs public, which makes it possible to find others
with similar tastes. Thingamabrarians can browse the entire database by
searching titles, authors, or tags generated by users as they enter books into
their libraries.
Users
of Libaray Thing can
import information from over 80 libraries including theLibrary of Congress, and
the Canadian National Catalogue. Once the correct book and edition
has been located, a simple click adds it to their own catalog. They can also
add books from another member’s catalog or by searching onLibraryThing itself.
Assuming the book is found (and most will be), each time a user adds a book, LibraryThing automatically
posts an image of its front cover, its date of publication, its ISBN
(International Standard Book Number), a list of other editions. It may even
suggest where a person can buy new copies online. If the user desires, they can
add other information, including tags, a star rating, a Dewey decimal number,
the date they acquired the book, the day they started reading, and the date
they finished reading it. Users can add comments to the database and even post
reviews. If the correct book or edition is not available in the available
databases, users can add it manually or edit the record later.
Although LibraryThing provides
cataloging data from the Library of
Congress, it encourages its users to tag the books included in their
collective collections. LibraryThing, like many
other folksonomy applications, incorporates a tag cloud into the “Social
Information” page created for each book. The tag cloud enlarges the tags
visually when they constitute a high percentage of use.
When
a book is tagged, you can view when other users or books use that tag. “Members
with your books” shows the 50 most similar libraries from other members. When
viewing another member’s profile or library, the system shows how many (and
which) books you share with that other member. If desired, you can leave a
(public or private) comment on their profile. You can also add the member as a
friend, to your private watch list, or as an interesting library.
The LibraryThing Web site
does not use advertising, but receives referral fees from online bookstores
that supply book cover images. Individual users can sign up for free and
register up to 200 books. Beyond that limit and/or for
commercial or group use, a subscription fee is charged. You can browse for free
can post up to 200 books free of charge. You can also access your virtual
library from my cell phone while standing in a bookshop by pointing your cell
phone’s browser to <http://www.librarything.com/.
Beyond that, you have to pay either $10 for a yearly membership or $25 for a
lifetime account.
Danbury Public Library,
Danbury, Connecticut was the first library to add theLibraryThing widgets to its catalog. The LibraryThing
data is integrated almost seamlessly into the record display.
Tags and the tag browsers bring the cataloging efforts of LibraryThing’s
thousands of users into the local OPAC (online public access catalog). Users
merely click on a tag associated with a book and the tag browser opens and
provides a list of all the other books in the library with that same tag. The
tag browser also provides a tag search engine, which has created an entirely
new way to navigate our catalog.
Using LibraryThing.com, readers,
authors, librarians, and researchers can now multiply their resources by
sharing libraries and network with those with similar interests and information
needs .