Thursday, July 19, 2007

LibraryThing at Bedford Public Library

from Barbara Glassford Johnson, Technical Services Manager/Systems Administrator at Bedford Public Library:

Bedford Public Library recently implemented LibraryThing for Libraries in its catalog. We've posted info about it on our web site.

I think other libraries might be interested in it. The process of working with the folks at LibraryThing was super easy, and it has provided some great new functionality in our catalog.

http://www.bedfordlibrary.org/ 817.952.2335
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Bedford Public Library adds LibraryThing for Libraries

Bedford Public Library became the second library in the nation to add
LibraryThing for Libraries to its online catalog. The new Amazon-like
feel to the online catalog is sure to appeal to patrons of all ages.
See us mentioned in LibraryThing's Thing-ology blog.
LibraryThing for Libraries will enhance our online catalog by allowing
users to view other editions, similar books and to search for items
using tags.
Other editions and translations: Links to audiobook editions and
Spanish-language versions of a title. See the title Foreign
Correspondent.
Similar books: Lists of similar books based on data from LibraryThing
and its members. See the title The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
Tags and Tag Browser: Tags are keywords and labels used by regular
people to categorize books as opposed to Library of Congress subject
headings which use a controlled vocabulary of predefined and
authorized terms. The tags come from LibraryThing's 17 million
member-added tags.
A simple "tag cloud" highlights some of the more popular terms people
use to describe a book. The larger a word appears in the "tag cloud"
the more people have used that term to describe the title thus it is
more relevant to the search. Tags with very low relevance appear very
small and may be meaningful only to the person who assigned it. Take a
look at this example: Cozy mysteries.
Incorporating LibraryThing for Libraries into our catalog will open up
valuable new ways for patrons to find books of interest to them. We
hope you enjoy this new catalog functionality.

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