Week Eleven - Explore and Play

Since this is the week to really just have fun, I thought I would play with a couple of image generators, as I am fascinated what can be done with images.

I started off with Easystreet, which allows you to create your own street signs. There are three sizes, five languages, and even MySpace and Live Journal codes so that you can insert your signs into those sites. Or, you can do as I did - simply create your sign, save it to your computer, and then upload it to your blog.

Not earth shattering, perhaps, but I found it fun. After all, who wouldn't want their very own street?

I then moved on to Trading Card Maker, one of Big Huge Labs large stable of image generators. On this site, you can create trading cards of your favorite TV casts, motion pictures, pets, friends, even library staff! What fun.

So, I made one for me:

And one for a friend:

After playing with images for a while, I decided perhaps I had better look at something library-related. So, naturally, being a reader and a cataloger, I headed straight for LibraryThing.

LibraryThing is a website where you can "catalog" the books in your own library and connect with others who share the same interests. Here is my LibraryThing Bookshelf

What are some of the features you particularly liked?
I liked being able to "see" my books as a "catalog"; as a cataloguer, this is not surprising, eh? I can now search and inventory what I have. However, there is a limit of 200 books on a free account. I have way more than 200 books, and I am not going to pay for an account, so already I see little use in continuing with LibraryThing.

The other main component of LibraryThing is to connect with others sharing your interests via tags (you have already read enough of my feelings on tagging) and groups. I did join Librarians Who LibraryThing, checked out some messages, and really didn't see anything I felt like discussing or contributing to. I looked at several other groups on SF, Fantasy, Tolkien, Harry Potter, and history. Once again, nothing I particularly cared about joining. I have other ways to connect with like-minded folks, so this just seems superfluous. I notice that this post is turning into another negative one, rather than describing features I liked. Sorry. Part of the problem is that I already have an active life on the web and all these social networks are fine for those who don't or who are looking for ways to connect with others. I am already connected, so many of these sites are just time-wasters for me. Obviously, I don't have the right mind-set for the social side of Web 2.0. :-(

Did you find it difficult to use?
Not at all. LibraryThing was very easy to use. I catalogued 23 books for my library, added a user pic, and joined a group all without any problem at all.

What LibraryThing features would work well in the library's catalog?
I am not certain that any particular features would work with our catalog. However, there is a version called LibraryThing for Libraries that might be useful. After checking out several libraries who use this third party product, LibraryThing for Libraries would utilize the database created by "LibraryThingers" to provide a tag cloud (enough with the tags!) and suggestions for similar book titles a patron might like. There are other third party products, such as Aquabrowser that would do something similar. These products would offer added dimension, information, and functionality to our catalog and provide an experience similar to many websites with which patrons are very familiar, including IMDB, Amazon, etc.

Are there other ways the library could use LibraryThing?

It might be fun to have a staff LibraryThing account, with staff able to add their favorites from their own libraries. Just like the favorites wiki, it is another way to learn a bit more about your fellow staff members and might be a bit of a morale booster to share interests with each other, though the 200 book limit would be a bit of a problem.