Exercise 11: Library Thing, a good thing.

LibraryThing is well-organized multipurpose tool that appeals both to librarians and a general audience of readers. As I was using LibraryThing I left my “librarian thought” and instead went into the mode of “book group member.” I tried to see the product through the eyes of Mary Ann, an Internet savvy member of my book group. The function of association “people who read x also liked y and z” would appeal to Mary Ann because she tries to come to the meetings prepared with a recommendation for the next month’s book selection. Granted we could find a similar function at Amazon but somehow when no one is going to profit from the item cross referenced items, I feel more positive about the item suggested. In the fall when my group starts again I will introduce the LibraryThing Web site to my sister readers. I predict that the group members will like the fact that we can have the group’s history of books read, a list of books by a particular author at a mouse click, reviews of readers, and ultimately more informed choices for future book nominations.