Library DIY: Online Books/Library Tools

[Deborah Babb]

Are you a Do-It-Yourself-er? Do you explore books online? Tell us about it!

This is also the place to share your mini-READ poster if you made one using the ALA READ poster generator.

[Anna Reed Galyon]

I played with Google Books for this "assignment", and found the Locke quote with surprising ease from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. I feel like such a traitor, but I ♥ Google!
Regarding Library Thing, is it crazy that I don't want to commit to this until I can do my whole collection at once? I would just feel incomplete if I entered some of my books but not all of them. Anyone else have similar anxiety?
Also, I have heard of some computer program that turns your webcam into a barcode reader. Has anyone had success with this or know which program does it?

[Wendy Cornelisen]

It's ok. I love google too. Have you tried Barcodepedia? It looks like it might do what you're looking for.

[Suzanne Costner]

When I login to GoodReads, I must enter an alternate reality - that's the only thing that could possibly explain why the time goes by so quickly while I'm there. I love checking out the other lists, seeing what my friends are reading... It's all addictive.

Here is the address for one of my lists, enjoy!
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2426006-suz?shelf=loved-the-mo...

[Wendy O'Connor]

I use Librarything because it interfaces with Ravelry, an online knitting community because I can put in my books in Librarything and export them to Ravelry and then keep track of current and future projects.

http://fantasticfiction.co.uk is a favorite book site of mine to find the next book in a series. The site covers both children's and adult titles and is invaluable for finding the next book in a series for a patron, what else and author has written and award winners. They also have new books lists, top authors, and suggestions of other titles.

check out http://www.literature-map.com/, a unique way of finding similar authors that uses an interactive diagram.

Google books answered a reference question about Olive A. Wadsworth the author credited for publishing Over in the Meadow.

[Wendy O'Connor]

My librarything booklist
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bigblueknitter

[Ann Petersen]

I knew about LibraryThing and have used it so I tried GoodReads and love it.
This would be a great way to remember all YA books I've read for my school library.

[Margaret Brown]

I tried out Google Book Search, and it's very cool. I looked for works by Angela Thirkell, one of my favorite authors, and found not only her own works, but also many references to her in other books. As for the John Locke exercise--that was really easy. I just typed the quote into the "exact phrase" search box, and got 5 hits. 3 were various editions of Locke's own work, and 2 were works about philosophy, including sections on Locke. I didn't even have to put Locke's name into the search at all. Very cool, indeed! I didn't have as much luck finding any of these in a library near me. The results I got were in Germany or Scotland. I'll have to go back and work with this more to figure it out. When I use Worldcat at work, this doesn't happen. Hmmmm....

[JP Murchison]

I checked out both GoodReads and LibraryThing and prefer GoodReads. It's much easier to add to a collection. Nice that you can add a shelf in GoodReads and list the books you own.

I plan to check out the Int'l Digital Children's Library. Had not heard of it before today.

[Melissa Reynolds]

Like the guy in the example, I have a list of books I've read. I signed up for LibraryThing but it will take awhile to input my books. I then went to Goodreads. I like the quiz & how you can rate the books. I plan to input my books and explore it more thoroughly.

I have to put a plug in for Bookmooch. I have used it for the last year or so. I love being able to pass along books I have read to others & getting books I want to read. The only expense is the cost of mailing the book to the next person.