So I just spent the last half hour or so checking out comments posted to this week's Tuesday Thingers question hosted by Marie at The Boston Bibliophile. For those who missed this week's question here it is: how many books do you have cataloged in your LibraryThing account? How do you decide what to include- everything you have, everything you've read- and are there things you leave off?
I didn't comment on personal blogs this week so I decided to post my observations here. It was a very interesting tour of how one chooses to use Librarything. So far 30 comments have been posted and almost everyone is a "purist" in the sense that they log only those books they physically own just like a brick and mortar library. Some feel very strongly that LT should be used only to track those books they own and not for any other purpose. I find that view very interesting and will leave it there. That being stated if I only used LT to catalogue the books I own instead of using it as, let's say, a reading journal or reference resource, I wouldn't have a LT account. I don't have a physical book library in my house. I don't keep the books I've read and I seldom re-read books. I read a book and pass it on or read and return to the neighborhood library. Now I'll read a book, on my Kindle, and then delete the content when I'm done. I won't be passing those books along but they will be "kept" on my Amazon account so that I can download them again, at anytime, if I want.
I do remember reading a comment or two along the theme that they used LT to catalogue what they've read so if they're browsing a bookstore they can check their LT account to see if they've read or have in their TBR pile a book they're interested in buying so that they don't purchase a duplicate book. I too use LT this way. I'll be browsing the shelves at my local brick & mortar bookstore or even the virtual world of Amazon and come across a book that interests me. Now does it interest me because it fits my reading tastes or does it interest me because I've already read it and it was a really good book? So before I make that purchase let's just take moment to check LT. This has saved me on more than one occasion from purchasing duplicates and allowed me spend my $$$ on books I haven't read.
May we each use LT as fits our needs and move on. Personally I think it one's of the best sites around and love the book community all the more because it. One of the wonderful things it's done is allowed me to find others who share my passion for books and reading and share that passion though each of us does it in our own way.
I do remember reading a comment or two along the theme that they used LT to catalogue what they've read so if they're browsing a bookstore they can check their LT account to see if they've read or have in their TBR pile a book they're interested in buying so that they don't purchase a duplicate book. I too use LT this way. I'll be browsing the shelves at my local brick & mortar bookstore or even the virtual world of Amazon and come across a book that interests me. Now does it interest me because it fits my reading tastes or does it interest me because I've already read it and it was a really good book? So before I make that purchase let's just take moment to check LT. This has saved me on more than one occasion from purchasing duplicates and allowed me spend my $$$ on books I haven't read.
May we each use LT as fits our needs and move on. Personally I think it one's of the best sites around and love the book community all the more because it. One of the wonderful things it's done is allowed me to find others who share my passion for books and reading and share that passion though each of us does it in our own way.
2 Comments:
I suppose you could call me a purist in terms of how I choose to use LT, but I don't think my way is the right way. It's just one way.
It has been interesting to read through the different responses. I never really thought about how other people use LT, at least not to the extent we have with this discussion.
I'm with you--we each use LT in ways that fit our needs and there's no wrong or right about it.
Hello, I've tagged you! Now you get to do one of these fun memes, lol, if you want to that is :)
http://kbookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/tagged-twice-more-about-me/
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