When we first stumbled onto LibraryThing, we quickly realized what a gem this resource is. Ultimately, this is a great place for bibliophiles in general; however, since many librarians are also bibliophiles, you will find many here sharing their personal wisdom and personal collections freely.
While LibraryThing is mainly for people to catalog their own book collections, their user base, forum and social aspect have coalesced to create something much larger.
Connect with librarians, explore a librarians' group and learn about TinyCat.
In order to benefit from LibraryThing as a librarian, you can’t sit on the sidelines. Jump in and join the group:
Here you’ll find two important things: 1.) A long list of topics and advice around topics, both niche and ubiquitous, often addressed in the librarian world. 2.) The ability to connect with socially active librarians on the LibraryThing platform.
Making connections with other librarians is possibly the most important aspect of LibraryThing from a librarian’s perspective. Like mentioned above, you can quickly add “friends” by searching through topics under the Librarians who LibraryThing group. Additionally, you can explore many more “hot” topics that are interesting to you and make connections that way. You will likely run into many other Library & Information Science professionals to expand your friend group and ultimately your professional network.
LibraryThing has a well-populated discussion group answering questions and issues around running a small library and using the TinyCat cataloguing system that leverages LibraryThing’s large database to add metadata and reviews to your collection (TinyCat is created by the LibraryThing team).
It also provides a framework for circulation systems with email reminders for patrons and even simpler systems for school libraries.