Archive for March, 2011

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

100 libraries using Library Anywhere!

iPhone version

We’re pleased to report that one hundred libraries have now chosen Library Anywhere as their mobile catalog! Library Anywhere takes an existing OPAC and makes it mobile—you can also create a custom homepage with Library Anywhere (add hours, events, contact info and more)—making it your entire mobile library website.

Try it.
Library Anywhere is flexible, and works with a wide variety of systems—which means we’re used by a wide range of libraries—from small public libraries and school libraries to large universities and huge consortia of public libraries. A few examples (of many):

See all the libraries using Library Anywhere listed here or just click the … menu within Library Anywhere and choose “Select a Library”.

What it includes. Library Anywhere includes an iPhone app, an Android app, a mobile web version, and the Universal/Accessible version, which works on any phone with web-browsing capabilities (Blackberry app coming soon). In short, something for everyone and every phone.

What it does. Library Anywhere lets you search the catalog, place holds, renew items. It does what the regular catalog does, but in a mobile friendly form.  You can also create a custom homepage on Library Anywhere, so you can include hours and location information, event and other RSS feeds, contact or “ask a librarian” links, and more!

Learn more about Library Anywhere here.

To order Library Anywhere, or get a free trial, call 877 340-2400, or email Peder.Christensen@bowker.com. You can also email questions to Abby@librarything.com.

Universal version (works on any phone) Android version

Labels: library anywhere, mobile, mobile catalog

posted by Abby @1:53 pm 0 Comments »
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    • Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

    March State of the Thing

    This month’s State of the Thing, LibraryThing’s monthly newsletter of features, author interviews and various forms of bookish delight, is on its way to your inbox, if it hasn’t arrived already. You can also read it online.

    For our author interviews this month, I talked to much-acclaimed debut novelist Téa Obreht about The Tiger’s Wife, recently published by Random House. Find out what inspired this haunting tale, learn about Obreht’s writing practices, and find out where she picked up some Hemingway first editions! Read the full interview.

    I also had the chance to interview Charles Cumming, whose fourth spy novel The Trinity Six is just out from St. Martin’s Press. I asked how he got interested in the Cambridge Spy Ring, which spy he liked best, and what books on Cold War espionage he recommends. Read the full interview.

    Read previous State of the Thing newsletters:

    http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/State_of_the_Thing

    If you don’t get State of the Thing, you can add it in your email preferences. You also have to have an email address listed.

    Labels: state of the thing

    posted by Jeremy @10:50 am 0 Comments »
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    • Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

    New Legacy Libraries!

    I’m happy to announce the completion of a Legacy Library quartet: Herman Melville, Jeff Buckley, Gustave Flaubert, and Daniel Webster!

    The four share just one work in common: Homer’s Odyssey.*

    Thanks to LTers thornton37814, benjclark, cbl_tn (Melville), claudiadias, Kuiperdolin (Flaubert), Sammiwithani (Buckley), and Christa_Josh (Webster) for their work on these collections!

    *At present. With work combinations, &c., this could change, of course.

    Labels: legacy libraries

    posted by Jeremy @8:45 am 0 Comments »
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    • Friday, March 18th, 2011

    Introducing Series and Awards

    We’ve added a new enhancement to LibraryThing for Libraries, which combines two complementary enhancements: Series and Awards.

    The Series enhancement draws from more than 50,000 series, and displays it right in the catalog. We provide a short description of the series (where available) and any related series (for example, The Chronicles of Narnia in both chronological order and in publication order).

    For a given book, we display the name of the series and then the titles of all the books within that series. As with all the LTFL enhancements, each title links to that book’s page within your catalog.

    See, for example, the page for Thursday Next in Lost in a good book in the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service Catalog. The series enhancement (displayed on the left-hand side) tells you this book is in the Thursday Next series. Click that series name and you see the series browser, which displays all the titles in that series, and links to each book in the library’s catalog.  If a library doesn’t have a given book, we still list it, but without a link.

    Chemeketa has chosen just to show the title of the series in the catalog, but you can also configure the enhancement to show a few “preview titles” and then a show more button which launches the series browser (as in the Pink Carnation screenshot to the right).

    Some more examples of the Series enhancement in action on these book pages:

    The Awards enhancement taps into more than 25,000 awards and honors. It covers a huge range of awards, from the National Book Award and the Booker Prize to the Salon Book Award and New York Times Notable Book of the Year, or even Oprah’s Book Club selections.

    See the awards on these books:

    Put it in your OPAC
    For ordering information contact Peder Christensen at Bowker—toll-free at 877-340-2400 or email Peder.Christensen@bowker.com.

    Questions? email me (abby@librarything.com)

    Labels: awards, librarything for libraries, LTFL, series

    posted by Abby @9:22 am 5 Comments »
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    • Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

    LibraryThing is hiring (non-technical)


    2007 Halloween book pile winner by member Bluesky1963

    LibraryThing is hiring again—a relatively junior position, with room to advance and grow. We’re looking for someone smart and organized to help out with the customer support side of the quickly growing LibraryThing for Libraries.

    You must be:

    • Able to write quickly and well
    • Organized as all get-out
    • Able to juggle multiple tasks efficiently and with humor
    • Extremely comfortable with computers
    • Able to work independently and communicate effectively

    We’d appreciate:

    • A Library or Information Sciences Degree
    • Experience in libraries or library “industry”
    • Technical skills (HTML, CSS, MySQL, etc.)
    • Customer-service or sales experience
    • Mac lover
    • Love of cheese

    Duties:

    • Assist Abby with LibraryThing for Libraries
    • Provide customer support to libraries
    • Attend trade shows
    • Learn whatever we need you to learn
    • Think creatively and suggest improvements
    • Whatever else is needed. We are still a startup so “duties” are fluid.

    Location:

    Boston, MA or Portland, ME area strongly preferred. If we get enough applications we will probably not look at others–no offense.

    Compensation:

    Salary plus gold-plated health and dental insurance. We require hard work, but we are flexible about hours.

    How to apply:

    Email and resume is good. Don’t send a separate cover letter. In your email, please go through the bullets above, explaining briefly how they do or don’t fit you.

    Send emails to abby@librarything.com.

    [Update, 4/21/11: We’re reviewing applications now; further submissions are not being considered at this time. Thanks for your interest!]
    [Update, 5/12/11: We’ve made our hire, look for an announcement soon!]

    Labels: employees, employment, jobs

    posted by Tim @11:38 am 41 Comments »
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