The playing's the thing, wherein you'll get the most out of LibraryThing

During Cam23 when I first looked at LibraryThing, I said, and I quote, “I feel I'm missing the point on this one.” Never were truer words spoken, or written, as not only did I most definitely miss the point, I didn’t even contemplate it. I’m actually glad I did because now I’ve returned to it, all the little niggling issues seem to have been ironed out, or are less annoying now, in the grand scheme of LibraryThing; it’s much ado about nothing. I don’t think I realised the possibilities of its practical application for libraries, but when our blog was created, it opened up the opportunities as we weren’t constrained by CamTools limited setup. I have delayed this blog post, initially because I started using it for more things, then because I needed to create themed lists and now because I’m hoping to use the widget. Once that has been figured out, then I’ll publish this post. So if you’re reading this, everything has been sorted. Read on to find out how.

LibraryThing for me started off as a way to keep track of all the new books, one of my responsibilities. I used to create a monthly Word document which listed all the newest, in both senses of the word, books that had come in. It featured a picture of the book cover, the book’s details and the shelfmark. Using Photoshop, I then created an A3 poster of the most important or interesting books that had come in that month with all the same details and a description, usually taken from the back cover or flyleaf. As much as I love the quaint way of doing things, as well as going about things the hard way, when the blog came into existence, I realised that my posters and Word document weren’t suitable anymore. In fact they were obsolete, old-fashioned and just looked plain wrong on our brand new shiny platform. Nevertheless I carried on regardless, not thinking of LibraryThing. That is until, like Gregory House, a chance comment from someone provided me with the answer. I am now a total convert. I may doth protest too much, but despite its limitations and frustrations, it has since taken root in some of my other responsibilities too such as ebooks and faculty publications. It’s made my life, well, my job, so much easier. But in getting to this point, it made my job so much harder, not to mention more stressful and to tell you the truth, it still is.

LibraryThing may be very easy to use and set up, but to make it work the way you want it to is a whole other matter. This is the time-consuming part, but once that is done, it is simple. Here is my LibraryThing comedy of errors:

• I created an account, made a list and then started adding the books. However simply typing in an ISBN isn’t enough, you first have to select from the range of different sources. I found Amazon is the best and am patriotic so I’m using the British site. It seems to have the majority of the books, apart from the ones that don’t have ISBNs or are very obscure. The sole annoyance is when they don’t have a cover image, you can either select one from a range of options as the default is a bland, blank and dark cover, upload an image or use one from the web using the image address.
• Once you have selected the correct book, most of the information is imported for you. So you only have to add the classmark and make any necessary alterations to the title and author/editor fields.
• The first major issue I had was working out how to put the LibraryThing lists onto the blog. I spent weeks and weeks in a winter of discontent trying to find a way round the JavaScript limitations on wordpress.com, on the help pages, both WordPress and LibraryThing forums and emailing them direct. It was a tale of woe, so in the end I gave up on the widget and posted a simple link. At first I thought when we transfer the blog to Wordpress.org, there would be no problems at all. But I must have jinxed us as the special WordPress widget doesn’t work properly either; the book link in the widget also won't take you to the place you want it to go to: the book's home page rather than the details. I burned, I pined, I perished, but to no avail. LibraryThing takes a lot of tweaking and patience, as Miranda Hart would say, "Such fun!"
• Another problem is direct links to ebooks. You can’t post a simple link into any of the fields, but it took a week or so before I discovered a solution; you can put html code into the reviews or comments fields. That’s when I discovered LibraryThing has even limited the code so you can’t make the link open in a new tab or window, so it will only open in the same tab or window unless you right click. This is annoying, but you can live with it. You will find your expectations broken like that a lot when using LibraryThing, slowly wearing you down like Rafael Nadal breaks his opponents' spirits; “it has to do that” turns into “that’ll have to do.”
• Finally, each list has a permanent link which you can use. The lists can be customised as you like it, so that it appears with all the relevant details including ebook direct links, the tags and the classmark. Annoyingly, it won’t automatically appear and you have to accept the ‘suggested viewing style’ before it will, otherwise it uses a default style which includes basic details; tags are incorporated, as well as the standard title, author and date, but not the comments field so none of my links. The default also includes the star ratings and entry date which are most likely irrelevant; fair is foul and foul is fair.

Now instead of the documents and posters, I simply update the LibraryThing link on the blog so it goes to the latest new books list and write a short blog post, usually including any particularly interesting books that have come in that month. When we migrate to the new blog next month, I’ll just have to update the widget so it shows the latest books.

I have since branched out from the new books and created a comprehensive list of faculty publications: those books written by members of our staff. I also have started to add a list of ebooks, but it quickly became too unwieldy. Instead of creating lots of lists categorised by theme, I’ve discovered the tagging feature and spent the best part of a week labelling each book with the best descriptive tags possible, tying them in with all the other books on the list, whilst simultaneously trying to keep them relevant, concise and clear. This was no easy task as I had to remember what my tags were, juggling them all in my head, or referring to the ever increasing tags list, doubling back on myself each time I created new tags and using the subject field on the catalogue to help me with the less classifiable books. As some of the titles cross over into the other lists, and there are a few that are a faculty publication, new book and ebook, I soon found I had to tag all 304 books I have added so far to the LibraryThing lists. That’s why it took so long. Now you can simply click on a tag and see all the books that have that tag. However the tags will initially work within the particular list you’re in; you have to select the ‘All collections’ list to search them all. Once I have added all the ebooks on though, it will work to its full potential. It makes browsing the lists so much easier. LibraryThing may have a catalogue of flaws, but as a catalogue, it’s flawless. All's well that ends well. My job is made easier and it makes our students’ lives easier too, the rest is silence.

My own thing

I’m glad I’ve finally got round to writing this post as I was greeted by this literary quote when I loaded iGoogle:

"Siempre imaginé que el Paraíso sería algún tipo de biblioteca." "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentinian writer)

It was quite apt as this was on MSN:

Most beautiful library

Paul Bernhardt/Lonely Planet
Looking down at the interior of the Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Built in 1837, it's home to more than 350,000 works, many dating back to the 16th century.

I’ve had a quite a few flattering remarks from Cam23 bloggers saying how much they like my writing and that I should carry on, so here I am! Thank you Emma, Jenni, Celine, Helen and Libgeek, this is because of you. I expect it will be more sporadic than before, but I’ll definitely be blogging about our library video when it’s ready and I will embed the YouTube version into the blog post. We filmed the last scene the other day. I’m afraid I can’t reveal any more than I already have done on my @judgesarah Twitter feed, but if you click here, courtesy of Kirsty, you’ll find a rather amusing taster. Warning, it contains Andy’s knees.

Before I get started on the thing that inspired this post, a few updates. I’ve finally realised I can change the settings of my JournoTwit page. Of course it’s now purple! JournoTwit was recommended to me as it’s a brilliant website which consolidates all my Twitter information, making it a lot easier to see new tweets, including when someone mentions me. I’ve got columns for my favourite people, BBC news and the Cam23 chatter.

Okay, onto the reason why I’m here writing this. There may not be any more things to analyse, but here is an analysis of my own thing, hence the title. I was one of the librarians who went to the Central Library tour and I was sufficiently struck by what I saw to give me enough material to write about. It was over a week ago now, but a little distance only helps you to gain perspective. Something I wish people would understand sometimes.

I love the quote over the entrance; unfortunately it wasn’t there when we visited. It’s probably incredibly uncool to admit it, but I was a library kid and I'm proud of it. I have very fond memories of the old library. I was in there every Saturday and I thank my parents for encouraging my love of reading, learning and particularly books. I used to have to use my parents’ cards as well as my own because I wanted to take out so many books. I used to browse the shelves and then when I found a book, I sat on the floor and read it there and then. I used to watch the people walk by in Lion Yard below and spend hours there just loving the whole essence of the place; you’d have to drag me away.

What changed? Well the library shut, for four years. In the time it took to renovate the place, with the Grand Arcade growing around it, the technological advances and the endless problems (such as not factoring the weight of the books in so the building sank, that may just be a fabulous rumour though), I learned to live without it. Plus I still had the little library in the village where I live. Since it reopened, I’d only been in once before the tour and that was to while away half an hour or so. I just stayed in the foyer looking at the ‘quick picks’. So a tour was most welcome and I hoped that it would bring back some of the enthusiasm I used to have for the place. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be the case, but it may not have been the library’s fault, or our guide’s who was very knowledgeable, experienced and a long-running employee. I reckon it was mine as I have grown up and moved on.

It was a very grown-up tour as the first thing that became clear was money and natural light issues; strip lighting never makes for a good atmosphere. Right beside the cafe is an exhibition section which people can hire out. The much celebrated Cambridge Collection which is all about the history of Cambridge and its surroundings and includes old maps, communal archives and local documents, is independently looked after. There aren’t many librarians left; I think it was 25 throughout the entire county. They also seem to be keen to promote the library such as the scheme they have running in order to get children reading. If you have children, they will enjoy the bright yellow book train, the games and the toys. The quick picks section is also a good idea, if a nightmare for the librarians as it isn’t organised in the slightest. There are some nice snugs there and the window seat allows you to watch the world go by underneath. I can’t believe they didn’t organise their fiction books into categories at first. I really like their stickers; a gun for war, a magnifying glass for mystery, a heart for romance and so on.

However the way they organise the staff is exceptional. No one spends too much time in one place; they have a very colourful timetable; the floors are all colour-coded which makes finding things a lot easier, as well as locating where you are. There is a back office, but most of the employees work out at the desks on each floor. There is also a brilliant book sorting machine, complete with conveyor belt, which is attached to the book return slot next to the entrance. It uses RFID which I hate; those stickers are impossible to remove. The self-issue machines (in English and Polish) and information points (computers) are scattered throughout the library, and there is Wi-Fi access anywhere in the entire building. Unsurprisingly the VHS and CD sections are empty of people. This is not only due to the advent of DVDs, but also because there is the BFI film room where you can access local history films as well as watch movies.
Even though the new Central Library is superb, I still miss the old one, in the same way I miss the old Parkside pool and the old MGM cinema. To me however, the new library is not so enticing a place. The only comfortable areas are the quick picks, the children’s area and the BFI film room. I still remember the stuffy, velvety, worn, deep blue carpets of the old library, the dark wood shelving, the children’s play room with the round window, the ground floor entrance and the soothingly intimate lighting that only just gave you enough to see by. I could've easily spent the whole day there. But that’s just my nostalgia talking, as usual.