Archive for May, 2021

Friday, May 28th, 2021

TinyCat’s May Library of the Month: the Gal’s Guide Library

To read more about TinyCat’s Library of the Month feature, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Our May Library of the Month goes to the first independent women’s history lending library in the U.S., the Gal’s Guide Library based out of Noblesville, Indiana! It was a joy to have Founder and Executive Director Leah Leach answer my questions this month:

Who are you, what is your mission—your “raison d’être”, and what’s something interesting about how you support your community?

We are the Gal’s Guide Library, and our mission is to provide an independent women’s history library to preserve, collect, share, and champion women’s achievements and lessons learned. We are also the first lending library in the United States dedicated to women’s history where you can browse the stacks and check out a book.

What are some of your favorite items in your collection?

Some of the favorite items in our collection are the out-of-print books that are nearly lost to history, Conchita’s Cintrón’s Memoirs of a Bullfighter, Babe Didrikson Zaharias’ autobiography This Life I’ve Led, and The Memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché (which invented the film Be Natural narrated by Jodie Foster). These three books really inspired us to create a library.

What’s a particular challenge your library experiences?

Image clockwise from bottom left: Founder/Executive Director Leah Leach, the reading area of the library, shelves, more shelves, and a member’s card to the library.

The challenge in our library experience has been surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. We opened our doors to the public 11 days before the lockdown. We needed to pivot from a lending library to online content. It was a struggle but we found a way to thrive.

What is your favorite thing about TinyCat, and what’s something you’d love to see implemented/developed?

I don’t know if it’s silly or not but I love the animated cover display on the catalog homepage.

Not silly at all, I love the colorful eye candy on the TinyCat homepages as well!


Want to learn more about the Gal’s Guide Library? Follow them on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/YouTube), visit their website here, and check out their full TinyCat collection here.

To read up on TinyCat’s previous Libraries of the Month, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Calling all TinyCat libraries: become TinyCat’s next Library of the Month—just send us a Tweet @TinyCat_lib or email Kristi at kristi@librarything.com.

Labels: libraries, Library of the Month, TinyCat

Monday, May 17th, 2021

Welcome Abigail!

We’re very pleased to welcome Abigail (LibraryThing AbigailAdams26, Litsy AbigailAdams26) to the team, as our new Project Specialist for LibraryThing.com.

Abigail is taking over from Meg, and will be writing State of the Thing, running the official social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, coordinating the Early Reviewers program, and helping to answer member queries. If it’s writing or editing-related, she will be involved.

Her arrival leaves us with an abundance of Abigails, as she joins LibraryThing’s very first employee, Abby Blachly. We shall henceforth always call Abby “Abby” and Abigail “Abigail”!

Say hello on her LibraryThing profile or on the Welcome Abigail Talk topic.

About Abigail
Abigail was born in Cleveland, but grew up in New York, just north of the city. She received a B.A. in Classics from Oberlin College, and a MPhil in Children’s Literature from Trinity College Dublin. She has worked in the book business since the age of sixteen, when she got her first job at a local Waldenbooks, and has since worked at six other bookstores, in four cities on two continents. At her most recent bookstore, she had the pleasure of meeting some of her favorite children’s book creators.

Abigail currently lives in central New Jersey, with her mother and four somnolent cats answering (sometimes) to Chloe, Emmie, Orion, and Tigger. She has a passion for history (ancient and modern), languages, world music, and children’s literature, and is currently engaged in a project to visit all of her new home state’s Revolutionary War sites.

Favorite Authors: L.M. Montgomery, Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Georgette Heyer

LibraryThing Member: AbigailAdams26
Litsy Member: AbigailAdams26

Labels: employees

Monday, May 3rd, 2021

May 2021 Batch of Early Reviewers is Live!

Win free books from the May 2021 batch of Early Reviewer titles! We’ve got 94 books this month, and a grand total of 2811 copies to give out. Which books are you hoping to snag this month? Come tell us on Talk.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing/email address and make sure they’re correct.

» Request books here!

The deadline to request a copy is Monday, May 31st at 6PM Eastern.

Eligiblity: Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, France, Germany, and many more. Make sure to check the flags by each book to see if it can be sent to your country.

Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!

Candlewick Press Akashic Books Kaylie Jones Books
University of Chicago Press TouchPoint Press Black Rose Writing
Revell Flux Rootstock Publishing
Charlesbridge Arrowsmith Press Henry Holt and Company
City Owl Press Flyaway Books West Margin Press
Transformation Media Books Mirror World Publishing Hawkwood Books
Iron Bridge Publishing Heritage Books Frayed Edge Press
Scribner Books Meerkat Press Wise Media Group
CarTech Books Prufrock Press Ooligan Press
Poolbeg Press Vibrant Publishers Highlander Press
BHC Press Bellevue Literary Press BookViewCafe
Red Adept Publishing Nysa Media BookWhisperer

Labels: early reviewers, LTER