Monday, January 15, 2018

Library Thing

I joined Library Thing in November 2013, and while I add new books as I acquire them, I still don't have every book I own entered. Today I discovered that more than half of my sizable Wodehouse section wasn't catalogued there. I spent a happy hour of my holiday figuring out which ones weren't and adding them. With Wodehouse, as with Patricia Wentworth, this will help me avoid duplicates, since I can't keep all the titles straight, between say Big Money, Uneasy Money, Money in the Bank and Money for Nothing, not to mention all the titles with "Jeeves" in them.

I currently have 1386 books listed in "Your Books." I think there are somewhere around 150 more to add, not counting a few duplicates (mostly Jane Austen and Dorothy Dunnett).

I use LT mainly to catalogue my books. I haven't really explored the other features, though I do have a few "friends." One of my favorite sections is "Members with your books," and my favorite part of that is where LT suggests what books I should borrow from them. I trust the warning that comes with those lists is tongue-in-cheek: "Obviously that does not necessarily mean you can borrow the books."

Usually when I click on that link, the first name on my "to borrow" list is Ngaio Marsh, with ten or more titles. The thing is, I've read Ngaio Marsh. I used to own some of her books. But something - what's the opposite of clicked? I came to realize that I don't care for her books. I've looked, but I can't figure out how to tell LT to please stop recommending Ngaio Marsh, or other authors I don't want to read.

I've just discovered the section where I can record how many times I read a particular title, which I'm always interested to know. I think of myself as a re-reader, and looking over my reading logs (and this blog) bears that out. I like knowing what I've been re-reading and when. With some books, it's almost every year. This weekend it was some Terry Pratchett books last read in 2007 (though I could have sworn more recently).

If there are any particularly useful or fun features of Library Thing, I'd love to know about them. And I should really figure out the groups, since I technically but passively belong to the Virago and Persephone group.

Edited to add: I've spent two "ice days" at home, checking my books against Library Thing. I quickly realized that 1) I have a lot more books than I realized and 2) I am a serious book squirrel, piling up TBR books. It's time to dig them out. I'm filling a bag for the library sale as well.

15 comments:

  1. I really need to get to grips with Library Thing. I entered a small number of my books and then just never got around to doing the rest. I know it will be useful though. I have the same problem with remembering whether or not I own titles I have read before or even ones I have debated buying. I suppose entering all my books would be a good winter project. Of course, I already told myself I would spend the winter organizing the boxes of photos in my attic and that hasn't happened yet so I do doubt my ability to follow through on that idea.

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    1. Since we're "friends" I occasionally check which books I should borrow from you - but then it also includes which books I should lend you.

      I have a box of my photos that I've told myself for years I would organize into proper albums. I think I've moved the empty albums three times now...

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  2. Wow. I'm up to 725 or so, but probably only about 3/4ths through my books. I'm dreading finding out how many books I actually have. :) I'm not recording my reading (unless I know I've read a book when I'm listing it) but I like the idea of knowing how many times I've re-read something. It is tremendous nerdy fun. Have you played with the TinyCat library feature? Even more fun. :)

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    1. Do you know what's even nerdier fun? I have a card catalogue of my books, with actual cards ;) But not all the cataloguing information. That's where I track re-reading.

      I haven't played with TinyCat yet. I love the name!

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  3. I seem to remember joining Library Thing many years ago but I have never used it. As I am in the process of downsizing and therefore getting rid of many of my books, cataloguing what I have isn’t a sensible use of time but I really ought to investigate its other features.

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    1. I culled some books in the wake of the hurricane last year, when I realized those were the ones I wouldn't try to save from the flooding (fortunately in the end I didn't get any flooding in the house). But I keep acquiring new ones, so I don't think it made much of a dent. I found a few more today for the library sale though.

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  4. I love having Library Thing to track my reading. My main problem is that I forget to remove books from my library when I purge them so I always end up showing that I have a much larger collection than I truly do. Oh well, one day I'll get a handle on that. My favourite thing is being able to tag each book however I like.

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    1. I haven't used it yet to track my reading, more as a catalogue. After the hurricane, I realized that it would be good to have a record of all my books somewhere, in case my paper records and the books themselves were damaged or lost.

      I got rid of a lot of books when I moved in 2016, but I didn't delete them from my paper catalogue, or sometimes from LT. But I'm finding a lot more that were never entered in LT.

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  5. Thanks for the reminder about Library Thing. I joined a long time ago and never finished putting my books on there. If I remember correctly, I liked it better a lot of the other library sites.

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    1. I can't remember if I looked at any others. I was using a Windows database program that died with an old computer, and that's when I started using LT - and my card catalogue :)

      I have all the Heyers entered at least!

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  6. I tend to use Goodreads more than Library Thing these days but I still add my books to LT as I acquire them. I have 1479 books listed but that includes books I no longer own and haven't deleted. I haven't explored all the other features of LT either, so I'll have to investigate!

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    1. I am finding books I no longer own as well, but more that I never got around to entering. The Trollope and Thirkell sections are incomplete, to my surprise!

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  7. I use LibraryThing exclusively as a cataloging system. It is so so helpful -- I am constantly logging in to check which books I own in a particular category, and I keep track of what books I still need to cover in contact paper. It's awesome. I regret nothing and I am absolutely content without learning more about LT's other features. :p

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    1. Je ne regrette rien either :) I occasionally remember to link a review, but I don't always manage even that. Still, it's very satisfying to have all my books finally catalogued there (barring a few duplicates).

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!