Update 6/22/11: When we first launched Library Anywhere, we were eager to have public pricing. It’s certainly a novelty in the library world, where wiggly pricing and negotiation are the norm. And we’ve used public pricing for the past year, keyed off of how many physical buildings/branches the library has. What we’ve found, unfortunately, is that while it pleased many people, it made just as many people unhappy. We’ve decided that we’re going to reevaluate our pricing metrics, and to take down this public list. And, of course, we’ll maintain pricing that’s far less then similar products!
Archive for January, 2010
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Library Anywhere Prices (Public!)
Labels: library anywhere, librarything for libraries, mobile, mobile web
Monday, January 25th, 2010
January State of the Thing
Ring-a-ding-ding. I’ve just sent out the first State of the Thing (our monthly newsletter) of 2010. Sign up to get it, or you can read a copy online.
This month’s State of the Thing features our iPhone app, site improvements and as always, free books.
We also have two exclusive author interviews:
Colum McCann won the 2009 National Book Award in fiction for Let the Great World Spin. The plot of the book follows a handful of characters who are witness to the 1974 tight-rope walk across the Twin Towers of New York, but this book is more than the sum of its plots. McCann lives in New York, with his family. His previous work includes Dancer and Zoli.
Joshua Ferris’ new, just-released novel is The Unnamed. Like a wind-up toy, the main character’s unknown medical condition will suddenly whisk him from wherever he is on a forced walk that ends only from exhaustion, miles from home. His family adjusts, as well as a family can, to an unexplainable disease. Joshua’s previous novel, Then We Came to the End, was a 2007 National Book Award finalist. At the moment, Ferris is writing an essay on the work of the Norwegian painter Lars Elling, and according to Ferris “contemplating about six ways to kill myself on account of it. I want to do both the painter & his work justice but fear I simply lack the lexicon.”
Next month, we’ll be interviewing Elizabeth Kostova and Holly Black. Have a question for them? Post it here and we might use it in the upcoming interview.
Labels: state of the thing
Monday, January 25th, 2010
24-hour Readathon wrap-up
We may not have a logo yet, but the first LibraryThing Readathon was a success. A lot of the fun is reading the thread on Book Talk where participants described their hour of reading. It was interesting to find out where other people chose to read for their designated hour, and absolutely wonderful to hear about the books everyone’s reading right now. You can read the whole thread here, which includes touchstones to the books read. Participants could also tag the book(s) they read. People also started including an excerpt from what they had read, which added a sense of nowness.
It was really fun helping in the creation of a new kind of event, which felt very community-oriented yet very easy to participate in. I myself woke up, grabbed my book, and started reading in bed. Sure, there wasn’t any brie provided (unlike the Boston meetup), but it also didn’t require getting out of bed.
We called it a beta test, because we weren’t sure what would need changing during the event, or for future events. We’ll talk about what to change, so know we’re planning on another event sometime in the spring. If you’d like to join in the organizing conversation, jump in.
Labels: event, LibraryThing event, ltreadathonbeta, readathon, reading
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
LibraryThing 24-hour Readathon (beta)
Inspired by LibraryThingers participating in Do Nothing But Read Day, member squeakychu suggested we have our own event which doesn’t limit a day’s activity to just reading. (It was discovered that it’s really hard to do nothing but read, when the doorbell rings, or pets/children need tending.)
Thus was born the LibraryThing 24-hour Readathon*. The idea is to have LibraryThing members from across the world reading continuously for 24 hours. Each member is committing to reading for one hour, at a designated time. We’ve built in a redundancy system, in case someone is trapped in their car in a snowstorm … without a book. Some people will start on the hour, others on the half hour.
Date: Saturday, January 23rd
Time: You choose
If you’re interested, sign up here. You can read the development and ongoing rules of the Readathon on the Site Talk thread. You can direct any questions to that Talk thread as well. Once you’ve read for your hour, come describe it on the Book Talk thread.
This is an event for any LibraryThing member (and anyone you want to convince to read along with you), and the only requirement is that for the hour you sign up for, you read something (or listen to an audiobook).
This is the first of what we’re hoping to be many readathons. Future events may include reading a specific genre, reading for different increments of time (15 minutes, out loud?) or reading for longer amounts of time than 24 hours (how long can LibraryThing members keep reading? Years?)
*Beta. We’re using this first event as a kind of trial to figure it out.
Labels: readathon
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Boston brie party
Last Saturday, we threw a party in Boston. Since the American Library Association midwinter meeting was already drawing many librarians and publishers to the city, we jumped on the chance to bring together bookish sorts for an evening of talking books, eating cheese and tipping a pint.
If I had to guess, I’d say there were around 75 people over the 2.5 hours we were holding court at the Green Dragon.
The LibraryThing for Libraries crew announced two new features at the conference, so the booth was busy. Abby’s recap is forthcoming on Thingology.
See all the pictures of the party and the LTFL booth here.
Labels: Uncategorized
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Apple highlights Local Books
Apple’s iTunes store has LibraryThing’s Local Books app. (see blog post, direct link) given us a rare honor—a spot among their featured apps.(1)
The exposure has shot us up in the books category, such that we are now—unbelievably—running third in the free section.(2) No matter how long it lasts—and we have no idea of that—it’s great news. The more people grab it, the more become invested in its success. We’re already seeing a pick up in entries to LibraryThing Local. And it puts pressure on us to improve Local and the app too.
Most of all, we hope the success of Local Books can inspire physical bookstores and libraries to embrace the digital world more fully—to put their basic information, events and holdings data out there for us and others to use. Their customers and patrons are eager for it. Only by embracing what the digital world can do for the physical can they compete against the continual advance of ecommerce and ebooks.
So, thanks to Apple for highlighting us, to Chris and John for making the app.(3), and thanks to all the members who entered the data to make it possible.
1. To see it, go to iTunes and click “App Store.” We’re in the third row of apps., next to “Puppy Park” and “Roadside America.” We only appear if the screen is wide enough to hold six icons. We go away if you’re only showing five or fewer apps.
2. The only downside has been that wider exposure has put the app in the hands of people who were, I think, expecting something different. Our ratings have shot down. Fortunately, they’re very much on par with other top apps. It seems iTunes reviewers are a finicky bunch!
3. They will be getting every dime the free app makes us!
PS: If you have an Android phone, check out our Layar app.
Labels: iphone, itunes, local book search, local books
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Library Anywhere, a mobile catalog for everyone
Following on our announcement of Shelf Browse, here’s another new product. We think this one’s a pretty big deal.
Announcing Library Anywhere! Check it out on our ALA handout (available here).
- A mobile catalog for any library, up and running in minutes.
- Mobile web and apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
- Cheaper than you’d guess.
- Search, place holds, and more.
- Showcase hours, branches, and events.
- No installation process.
- Works with 90% of current OPACs.
- Comes with an “accessible version” that provides a fully Section 508-compliant version of your existing catalog.
Unlike Shelf Browse, available now, Library Anywhere is “coming soon.” So, we’re looking for beta libraries.
UPDATE Library Anywhere is now available! Read more about Library Anywhere in our launch post, or try it out with one of these libraries. Read all our blog posts about Library Anywhere here.
Labels: library anywhere, mobile, mobile web
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
New stuff: Shelf Browse
If you’re at the American Library Association in Boston, come check us out (booth 1208).
We’re going to be showing a bunch of new products. First up is “Shelf Browse,” another enhancement for LibraryThing for Libraries.
As our ALA handout (available here) puts it:
“Browse your library’s shelves visually, just as you would do in the physical library. Shelf Browse lets your patrons see where a book sits on your actual shelves, and what’s near it. It includes a “mini-browser” that sits on your detail pages, and a full-screen version, launched from the detail page.
Labels: librarything for libraries, shelf browse
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
LibraryThing at ALA Midwinter
We’re at ALA Midwinter in Boston this weekend—come by and talk to us! We’re in booth 1208 (look for the rhinos).
We’ll be showing off LibraryThing for Libraries—reviews, tags, recommendations and some big new features.
New features
- Shelf Browse for your OPAC. It shows your covers on a virtual “shelf” for browsing—just as you would do in the physical library. Shelf Browse lets you see where a book sits on your actual shelves, and what’s near it.
- Library Anywhere: A mobile catalog for everyone. Library Anywhere gives you a web version of your OPAC optimized for cell phones, as well as native applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. It requires no installation, and will be cheap.
- Scoping for Consortia. LTFL now has improved consortium support which allows for “scoping”—patrons searching within a scoped location will only see, for example, LTFL recommending books that are held at that location.
This is just a quick overview, we’ll blog each of these in much more depth in a few days, stay tuned for more details and screenshots. Or just stop by the booth and we’ll show everything to you in action.
Party
Saturday after the show, come have some baked brie and talk books and libraries with us.
- Saturday the 16th, 5:30-8pm at The Green Dragon Tavern.
Appetizers, drinks, and good conversation. Details in this blog post. We’ll also have little cards with directions at the booth.
Free exhibit passes
If you just want to go to the exhibit hall (no sessions), you can get a free pass here.
Labels: ALA, ALAmw2010, librarything for libraries, LTFL
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Crosspost: LibraryThing party in Boston
Crossposted from the LibraryThing blog:
LibraryThing party in Boston:
Gather with librarians and LibraryThing members alike to eat, drink and talk books.
Date: January 16th, 2010
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: The Green Dragon (see Local event) – 11 Marshall St Boston, MA 02108
Updates: Follow @conferencething on Twitter
We’ll be at the ALA midwinter conference exhibit hall at booth 1208, so stop by to say hi and grab a flier with info and directions.
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
LibraryThing party in Boston
If you’ll be in Boston this Saturday, January 16th , come to our LibraryThing Meetup!
We’re taking advantage of the American Library Assocation conference in Boston to pull together all our favorite bibliophiles, eat food, drink drinks, and talk about the state of books, the future of the book, and what you just finished reading.
We’re having it at The Green Dragon Tavern—a nice fit, as “The Green Dragon” is one of the most active groups on LibraryThing.
In true LibraryThing tradition we’ll be providing ALL THE BAKED BRIE YOU CAN HANDLE, along with other light fare, perhaps including some that don’t revolve around cheese. Since we’re not doing ConferenceThing,* we’ve got some money to burn, and can offer a snack-y dinner instead. You buy the beer.
Date: January 16th, 2010
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: The Green Dragon (see Local event) – 11 Marshall St Boston, MA 02108
Updates: Follow @conferencething or @librarythingtim on Twitter
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: The Green Dragon (see Local event) – 11 Marshall St Boston, MA 02108
Updates: Follow @conferencething or @librarythingtim on Twitter
Directly after our event there’s a tweetup for ALA conference-goers at the same location. We like to keep our 2.0 events convenient!
*Our original plan was to have ConferenceThing, a mini-conference giving librarians and bibliophiles a chance to talk about books in all their forms, and the book world. That didn’t work out, as we couldn’t find speakers and in a choice between hearing Tim speak in front of a projector and watching Tim and Abby shovel brie…
Thanks to merelymel for the photo.
Labels: ALA, conference, Conferencething, event, LibraryThing event, Midwinter
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
ALA Midwinter—free exhibit passes
We’ll be at ALA Midwinter this weekend, and so should you! We have free passes to give out (to the exhibits only) if anyone in the Boston area wants to attend.
You just have to go here and register.
While you’re there, stop by to say hi. We’ll be in booth 1208—just look for the rhinos.
More announcements coming soon, including a few new LibraryThing for Libraries features, and an update on the party we’re hosting Saturday evening. Stay tuned.
Labels: ALA midwinter, librarything for libraries, LTFL, rhinos
