We’ve long supported imports from Shelfari into LibraryThing, and with the news that Shelfari is being merged with Goodreads, some folks are looking for a new online home for their books. Now you can import your Shelfari library, and receive an automatic upgrade to a free lifetime LibraryThing account! Here’s how to do it:
UPDATE: We’ve seen a number of Shelfarians becoming more active on LT recently, and we’re happy to have you! You might find some of your old friends over in the Shelfarians on LibraryThing group, created and managed by your fellows.
Export Your Shelfari Data
You’ve got a couple options when it comes to exporting your Shelfari library, and can either directly download a file, or have one emailed to you. See Shelfari’s instructions here.
Sign Up for LibraryThing
It’s quick and free! Head over to LibraryThing.com and click “Join Now.” Enter your desired username and password (we also recommend including your email address, for password resetting purposes), and you’re good to go!
If you’ve already got a LibraryThing account, you can import your Shelfari library to your existing account.
Import Your Shelfari File to LibraryThing
Once you have your Shelfari export file, go to our Shelfari Import page and upload it there.
Enjoy
Welcome to your new library on LibraryThing! We’re happy to have you. Take a look around, and get to know the place a bit. We recommend the Short Introduction for a quick overview of features.
If you have any questions, Talk—our discussion forum—is a great place to start, and you can always email us at info@librarything.com.
I wonder, is there any more steps? I’ve moved my shelfari books, but still didn’t get a lifetime account… Please advise.
Hi Natalia,
It’s possible that the lifetime membership upgrade is taking an hour or so to process. Looking at your account (username Natalia_Sh) from the admin side of things, it looks like you’re all set with a lifetime membership now. Please feel free to email me (loranne@librarything.com) if you’re still having trouble, and thanks for your patience!
Shelfari is not getting us our CSV files very promptly. (It has been over a day.) The TSV file is easily gotten. Will that work?
(http://www.shelfari.com/profilesettings/shelf)
Hi Anna,
I’m sorry to hear their exports are taking quite a while. I tested it myself, and the .TSV file should work just fine. Feel free to shoot me an email (loranne@librarything.com) if it doesn’t!
I would love to take advantage of this generous offer. Is there a deadline when this is going to expire? Those of us trying to export our books from Shelfari recently received an email message stating that due to high volume it’s going to take 1-2 WEEKS to get our data.
Thank you for thinking of us. I’m sure everyone here knows how upsetting it is for us to be forced off our favorite site.
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for getting in touch! I’m sorry to hear that your Shelfari export is going to be delayed so much! That’s very frustrating. We don’t have a deadline set in place for this at the moment, and I’ve checked to make sure your account is already upgraded to full lifetime membership status—it is! It looks like your import might have come through between now and when you initially commented. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, or if there’s anything else I can do to help.
I imported all my books from Shelfari but my free membership didn’t appear. I have over 2000 books and need it.
Hi Susan,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with your membership upgrade. Looking at your account (username slittle40 is the account I found associated with your email address), it certainly looks like you have your lifetime membership on this end. You can check your membership status by heading over to your account settings. At the top of that page, just below your username, you should see “lifetime” next to “Account type.” Please email me (loranne@librarything.com) if you’re still having trouble, and I’ll be happy to help!
Am I getting my Lifetime account today some time. For I update my shelfari books to my library-thing account? I am having trouble adding books and telling me to upgrade. I have uploaded my books several times. It importing them a second time.
Thanks,
Lindsay
Hi Lindsay,
I’m sorry to hear your lifetime upgrade didn’t go through promptly—sometimes they take an hour or so to process I’ve gone ahead and upgraded your account to the correct lifetime membership status. You should be all set! Please feel free to email me if you have any further questions (loranne@librarything.com).
Thanks,
I do I never received Too Hurt to Stay that I was to review in March 2013.
I’m sorry to hear that Early Reviewers book never made it to you. Unfortunately, given how long ago that book was offered, I’m afraid it’s a lost cause at this point. I’m sorry I can’t be more help on that. Again, please email me if you have any further questions: loranne@librarything.com
I was wondering is the upgrade automatic when I import my Shelfari books?
Hi Irena,
Yes, the upgrade should be automatic! You can check your membership status by heading over to your account settings. Next to “Account type,” it should read “lifetime”. Feel free to email me if you have any further questions: loranne@librarything.com
It says free under my name. Oh, well, maybe it just takes time since a lot of people are importing their books too.
Sorry for the trouble! I’m not seeing any accounts in our system associated with your email address. If you’ll tell me your username, I’ll make sure you get upgraded ASAP! Feel free to email it to me if you’d rather not post it here: loranne@librarything.com.
Hi, I’m trying to import my Shelfari books, but the site says I’m over the 200 books limit.
So my import is blocked.
Could you help me?
Sorry for the trouble! I’ve gone ahead and upgraded your account (username: Doc777) to full lifetime membership status. You should be good to go. Feel free to email me (loranne@librarything.com) if there’s anything else I can do for you.
I have around 500 books on Shelfari, but when I exported them here it only worked for about 10 books (I keep getting an error whenever I try again to export them all), and I also didn’t get a lifetime membership. Help, please? Thank you.
Hi Jade,
Sorry to hear about your Shelfari import trouble! Looking at your import file, it looks like you went to our Universal Import process instead of Shelfari import, and used a link, rather than exporting your books from Shelfari first, then importing. Try following the steps from our Shelfari Import page—that should get you better results. My apologies again for the trouble. Feel free to email me at loranne@librarything.com if there’s anything else I can do to help.
I imported all my books from Shelfari but my account is still listed as free, not lifetime. I may just be jumping the gun, but could you please check this? Thank you! 🙂 My username is cheekylala_kindle.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for reaching out, and welcome! I’m sorry your automatic upgrade didn’t go through. I’ve now upgraded your account to a full lifetime membership. You should be all set! Feel free to email me (loranne@librarything.com) if there’s anything else I can do for you.
Hello! I joined today, and imported through the Shelfari import page without issue. I didn’t even know about the upgrade to a lifetime until I found this post. I think I remember my account initially showing as ‘free’, and now it says ‘lifetime’, so I think this worked for me, and very quickly, too.
I read all of the comments here, so I just wanted to say it’s so nice to have someone here so willing to help all of us Shelfari refugees. Thanks, Loranne!
Hi Anita,
Thanks so much for the kind words. I’m glad to hear LibraryThing is working out for you so far. If there’s ever anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can get a hold of me at our support email at info@librarything.com, or directly at loranne@librarything.com.