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A brief overview of the Washington State Library's use of LibraryThing, presented at the 2008 Pacific Northwest Library Association conference in Post Falls, Idaho.
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PNLA 2008
Linking with LibraryThing at the Washington State Library
Mary Paynton SchaffReference Librarian
Why LibraryThing?• Getting where our
patrons are• Marketing to a new
audience• Social cataloging• RSS• Hard to make wholesale
changes to a shared catalog
• First 200 books free• It’s cool!
How do we use LibraryThing?
• Advertise our materials
• Steer traffic back to our website, online resources, and Ask a Librarian
• Create RSS widgets to display “new” titles on our blog
• Create lists and bibliographies using tags
• Make connections with other members and projects
LibraryThing LocalAdvertise your events!
• Community-wide book-related events
• RSS• Favorite venues• Comment walls• Past Events• Claim your venue and link
it back to your profile
The Response So Far• Consistent click-through
from blog widget to new books
• Discovered LT’s value as a resource for reader’s advisory
• Spurred us to investigate other online portals
• Profiled in Ellyssa’ Kroski’s new book
Concerns to Consider
• Meaningless tags
• Consistent linkage between LibraryThing and your “official” resources
• Current lack of Java-enabled widgets
• WorldCat?
• Promoting your presence on LibraryThing
• Time sink
LibraryThing at the Washington State Library
http://www.librarything.com/profile/wastatelib
Questions? Comments?
Mary Schaff
