Jun 24 2009
Using Web2.0 to display books from library
In between taking part in the latest Your School Library Course, cataloguing loads of new stock, tweeting, going to a conference and planning the new library, I have also been trying out three Web2.0 tools! Ages ago, I uploaded our catalogue to LibraryThing and put two widgets on the Library Online website. However, I have also seen two other tools – Gurulib and Shelfari – which I thought might be interesting to try also.
I am not doing a detailed review of these sites, just commenting after a quick look and in terms of how useful they might be to school librarians who need a way of displaying or accessing their stock from their website.
Also, bear in mind that our library stock is very small at the moment – only 2700 items. Out of the three sites, only LibraryThing asked for a subscription as it has a limit of 500 items.
So, here are the results of trying these out:
LibraryThing
On the site, widgets are very customisable, which is nice. The issue I have is that if you upload old books, then LibraryThing puts in a generic cover, if it cannot find the real one. The generic cover is not very pretty! I have, however, been able to upload the catalogue complete with the keywords – which have gone in LibraryThing’s “tags” field. As I originally exported the catalogue records into Excel, I was able to add the Dewey number into the “tag” field as well. With some books, again old ones, it cannot find details, so they are not uploaded. You can do lots of activities on LibraryThing, such as add reviews, join groups and so on. I had thought of using the site for my Reading Group then realised that, as most of them are under 13, the site rules say that they cannot join. So I am using a wiki for this.
GuruLib
| Recent books from My Library |
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| powered by Gurulib |
Gurulib seems to be a lot more basic than the other two, some of the books were not recognised, but uploading the file went very smoothly and more quickly than the other sites. I have not yet spent much time exploring the site.
Shelfari
An interesting thing about making the Shelfari widget is that you have the option to choose a tag – this would enable a lot of flexibility. The site did allow me to upload the entire catalogue, although I did have some problems initially with getting the upload to go on to the correct “shelf”! Again, I have the problem with the unrecognised books that ended up with weird covers – but if I had the time, I could scan in the real ones.
Anyway, these sites are a way of showcasing our library’s stock on our websites if we have not got the luxury of a WebOPAC. I am sure that I will also find some interesting ways of using them too – even if I just advertise our newest books using these fun widgets!
What do you think?
