I first encountered Library Thing a few years ago when I was a member of the Staff Development Committee. I was involved in creating a Reader's Advisory training for new staff, and Library Thing was one of the sites we covered. I did create an account for myself, but I never did much with it. To me, it was a bit clunky to use, particularly the method by which you added books to your shelves.
After investigating the other options out there, I decided to use Goodreads and never looked back. Most of the information staff at my branch have a Goodreads account, and many use it regularly. I find it easy to add a book, tag my books, organize them, and view what my friends are reading. I like getting the update emails that show me what my friends have added to their accounts, and I have used my friends' lists to help me with reader's advisory for patrons! I think that is probably the most likely use of these sites for our library, given the current budget situation. I don't think we'd have the staff to create an AACPL Goodreads or Library Thing and keep it up to date, but if staff use it for themselves and connect with each other, then we can all benefit from each other's reading and the patrons will too.
I never used any method of keeping track of my reading before, and it's so nice to have my Goodreads page always accessible, particularly for keeping track of what I *want* to read. Now I don't have to check out the cool new book I saw, take it home, never get around to reading it, pay some fines on it, then return it, never to be remembered again. Now I just quickly add it to my "to read" list and then when I finish a book, I just look at the list and pick something! Of course, I will undoubtedly never get around to reading everything on that list (which stands at 137 books at this point--doh!), but it's nice knowing it's there. I certainly hope that Goodreads sticks around for a while. That's the downside of using online sites to keep track of things--what if they shut down? You can print your lists of books, of course, but then you'd have to enter them all over again somewhere else. *shudder* Ah well, let's just hope for the best, shall we? :-)
You can find me on Goodreads here: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1501791
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It looks like Goodreads will be around for quite a while, they have a growing user base and expanding usage in all function areas. They're also remarkably responsive to user feedback. But to safeguard your list, run an export every once in a while. It will include ISBNs so any future lists or imports would be simplified. To export, follow the instructions from the top of "your books" page to find the import area but select the export text instead. Hope this helps! See you on Goodreads.
Excellent--thanks very much for that information! It's good to know I can back all of that up so it won't get lost. Very helpful!
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