LibraryThing

To some of you it may already be clear that I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to books.  I’ve finally succumbed and signed up for an account at LibraryThing.com. I had created a database myself for cataloguing, but found the process far too manual and I must admit, LibraryThing is far more straightforward.¹

For those not savvy to the online world of book-geekery (and I admit, I’m often out of the loop on this sort of thing too, as I tend to think of books as primarily a source of off-line activity, but then again, I write about them online quite a bit…) LibraryThing is a website that allows you to catalogue your books online and share what’s in your library with friends.

My account name there is plutopsyche, and I’ve catalogued a little over 540 books so far, which amounts to two and a half bookcases worth, mostly from my study (where I keep the bulk of the esoteric texts, for those interested in a snoop). There’s still another bookcase and a half to go in here, then I move on to the rest of the house (another ten bookcases).

As you can see, I’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s interesting to see the statistics of what’s been catalogued so far – the popularity of certain authors and titles, and the rare books I didn’t realize were rare until I discovered I couldn’t find them anywhere (at least among LibraryThing users).²

I’m still finding my way around the site, but it seems like a neat tool. I’ve added a LibraryThing widget to the left-hand side of the blog which will display three random books that have been catalogued thus far.

Do you have your books catalogued online somewhere? What do you think of the idea?

Popularity: 2%

Footnotes:

1. I’m using a :CueCat scanner bought from eBay, but I see you can buy them from LibraryThing, too – a huge time-saver. [back]
2. Overall I have a “16/87 median/mean book obscurity” – whatever that means. [back]

Related posts:

1. Plutionica.net site updates
2. Plutonica.net and social networking
3. Harry Price Library of Magical Literature may be sold
4. New Austin Osman Spare catalogue at Weiser Antiquarian
5. I did it