Archive for the ‘LTFL’ Category

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Welcome KJ!

We are very pleased to welcome KJ Gormley (LT member kjgormley) to the LibraryThing team. KJ will be assisting Abby and Kate by providing technical and customer support for our LibraryThing for Libraries products (see the job post).

KJ grew up on the coast of Maine and earned her BA in Cultural Anthropology from Smith College. After school, she went to work for the Skidompha Public Library in Damariscotta, Maine, where she worked in the Development department and did technology assistance. She moved to Portland in September, and enjoys watching the sun set over Back Bay from her window. KJ will be joining Tim and Jeremy in working most of the time at LibraryThing HQ in Portland.

When not reading, KJ enjoys writing fiction, making a fool of herself at dance classes, playing ukulele, and sampling the Portland food culture. She is currently reading and watching her way through the collected works of Shakespeare. Her favorite authors are Robertson Davies, Ruth Ozeki, Neil Gaiman, and John Irving.

You can follow KJ on Twitter at @kjgormley.

Labels: employees, LTFL

posted by Jeremy @4:42 pm 2 Comments »
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    • Monday, June 18th, 2012

    800,000 reviews on LibraryThing for Libraries

    LibraryThing for Libraries just hit 800,000 professionally vetted reviews (812,839, to be precise!). We had been working through a backlog (we had hit 600,000 in April) and are now entirely caught up, which is great. We have between 3,000-4,000 new reviews to read and approve every week, so the number is ever growing, and you can be sure that new popular books will have reviews on them quickly.

    A question we get frequently is what does “vetted” mean? We—real live MLS-degreed librarians*—read the reviews submitted by LibraryThing members.** We remove reviews not written in English,*** remove reviews that consist of nothing but a link, and we automatically star out curse words. The rest, we read. We remove reviews that are credited to another source, or published elsewhere. We remove reviews that obviously aren’t reviews. We don’t judge grammar and punctuation too harshly, but if a review is so riddled with errors that it’s impossible to read, it goes. Much of the vetting process involves making judgement calls about whether it is useful, whether it is what someone would want to read when deciding to check out a book or not.

    On top of these reviews from LibraryThing, patrons at your library can write their own reviews (local reviews will always sort on top, so you see them first). Libraries that subscribe to the Reviews Enhancement from LibraryThing for Libraries can also display patrons reviews from other libraries that use the service, sharing the wealth.

    The Reviews enhancement is one of the easiest to add to your OPAC, and also comes with a widget that can be used to show off recent reviews written in your library.

    For more information, email me (abby@librarything.com). For ordering information, contact Peder Christensen at Bowker—877-340-2400 or Peder.Christensen@bowker.com.

    *This is who we are!
    **LibraryThing members must agree to share their reviews before we even consider them for inclusion.
    ***Though we automatically exclude non-English language reviews, libraries can now actually choose to include reviews in other languages! So German libraries can show reviews in German and those in English, if they desire.

    Labels: librarything for libraries, LTFL, LTFL Reviews

    posted by Abby @12:23 pm 3 Comments »
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    • Monday, March 26th, 2012

    Custom Branded Library Apps

    Branded apps are now available from Library Anywhere: get the power of Library Anywhere along with custom colors and branded apps downloadable under your library’s name in the app stores!

    Branded apps have the same base functionality as Library Anywhere (including catalog integration, account functions, OverDrive integration, a custom homepage, and barcode scanning). But they’re also a complete white label solution—the app is yours alone, with no references to Library Anywhere or other libraries. Branded apps give you the ability to set a custom background color, have a custom app icon, a custom app launching screen—and most importantly, they are downloadable under your library’s name in the Apple and Android app stores.

    Check out Tulare County’s iPhone app, now available on iTunes (and soon available on Android phones as well).

    Learn more
    Contact us for more information or to upgrade your existing Library Anywhere to a branded app.

    Email me (abby@librarything.com) with any questions about this or any of the LibraryThing for Libraries OPAC enhancements. To subscribe, contact Peder Christensen at Bowker—toll-free at 877-340-2400 or email Peder.Christensen@bowker.com.

    To learn more about the ways in which LibraryThing for Libraries products can enhance your catalog, sign up for a webinar. Webinars are held each Tuesday at either 10am or 2pm Eastern.

    Labels: app, branded apps, library anywhere, LTFL

    posted by Abby @12:17 pm 1 Comment »
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    • Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

    LibraryThing at Computers in Libraries

    Tim and I are headed to DC this week for Computers in Libraries. We’ll be at booth #323, so stop by!

    We’ll be showing off our new custom branded Library Anywhere mobile apps, our newest addition to the LTFL enhancements, Stack Map, AND a sneak peek at a brand new feature, BookPsychic.

    Stop by to see any and everything!

    Also remember, we do webinars every Tuesday to show off both Library Anywhere and all the LibraryThing for Libraries enhancements for your library catalog (tags, similar books, other editions, series, awards, shelf browse, reviews, and Lexile measures)! Click here to register. On the Browse Meetings page, search for LibraryThing to see a listing of all upcoming webinars.

    Labels: BookPsychic, branded apps, CIL, CIL2012, library anywhere, librarything for libraries, LTFL

    posted by Abby @8:47 am 1 Comment »
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    • Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

    At PLA in Philly, sneak peek at new features!

    In Philadelphia for PLA? Stop by the LibraryThing booth! Kate and Tim are camped at booth number 2312

    We have some new improvements and features for both Library Anywhere and LibraryThing for Libraries to show off.

    SNEAK PEEK at BookPsychic
    BookPsychic is personalized recommendations for your patrons. The more they rate, the better their recommendations become! The more they discover, the more your collection circulates. BookPsychic will be available early Q2 2012.

    Click image above to view PDF handout

    New for Library Anywhere: Branded apps
    Get the power of Library Anywhere along with custom colors and branded apps downloadable under your library’s name in the app stores! Branded apps are a complete white label mobile solution—the app is yours alone, with no references to Library Anywhere or other libraries. Branded apps are available now—contact us for more information or to upgrade your existing Library Anywhere to a branded app!

    Click image above to view PDF handout

    Read about Library Anywhere and the rest of our LibraryThing for Libraries enhancements, including our newest addition—Stack Map, on the Library Thing for Libraries homepage.

    Stop by the booth at PLA to learn more, or email me (abby@librarything.com) at any time!

    Learn more
    Email me (abby@librarything.com) with any questions about this any of the LibraryThing for Libraries OPAC enhancements, or our mobile product, Library Anywhere! To subscribe, contact Peder Christensen at Bowker—toll-free at 877-340-2400 or email Peder.Christensen@bowker.com.

    Labels: app, BookPsychic, branded apps, library anywhere, librarything for libraries, LTFL, PLA, PLA12

    posted by Abby @4:07 pm 0 Comments »
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