LibaryThing & Shelfari

Well, I finally jumped in and built my Shelfari and LibraryThing libraries. I had joined both services some time ago, but hadn't taken the time to enter more than a few books in either library.

Then I discovered that LibraryThing can strip the ISBNs from the source code on your 'Items Owned' pages at Amazon.com. That was an easy way for me to import just over 1,000 of the books I own into LibraryThing, which then let me export the catalogue into a format easy for Shelfari to import. Voila!

I've still got a few thousand books to enter, but I need to add the ISBNs for each book in my collection to my library spreadsheet. When I started that list years ago, I just didn't anticipate the need for the ISBN, so it is the one piece of information lacking. Of course, both LibraryThing and Shelfari need the ISBN for import from list.

LibraryThing sells their CueCat scanner for $15, so I've ordered that. It's a far sight less expensive than the one Book Collectorz sells somewhere near $100. I don't believe the CueCat scanner is wireless, but I have a laptop I can move near each bookcase when I scan the ISBNs from the bar codes on the books, so that isn't an issue for me.

I've also discovered a handy-dandy little website that provides a useful tool where you can craft a search string within a web address that returns a list of book matches for that search string, along with details for that book, including the ISBN. The site is at https://isbndb.com/. The search results are in XML and give the ISBN-10 rather than the ISBN-13, but it searches faster than Amazon, and you don't need to click additional links or scroll down to find the ISBN.

I think most of my ebooks probably won't be found at either Shelfari or LibraryThing at this time, judging by the few searches I've already performed on those. It does look like LibraryThing has the ability to allow manual entry of books, so I may work on that when I have time. Shelfari indicates this is a feature they might implement in the future. It is disappointing that neither of these can return results on ebooks using their ISBNs yet. I'm not sure if that is an issue with the services themselves or if it is some anomaly with the Library of Congress. Regardless, when ebooks have become so popular and digital publishers and authors are so prolific, it is disappointing. Perhaps if enough readers continuously express the need for it, we'll be accomodated eventually.

So, here are links to my profiles and catalogues at Shelfari and LibraryThing. I've only got about 1,000 books in each so far, but I hope to have the rest of my collection entered eventually.

Shelfari
LibaryThing Profile
LibaryThing Catalogue

Anyone else use these services? I'd love to friend other readers and, of course, my favorite authors there... :) Being a novice at both services still, I'd also love to hear what your favorite features at both are.

Jennifer Ray
http://www.jenaray.com/