My Discoveries is the new Social Library Experience found in AquaBrowser, by Medialab Solutions. My Discoveries gives the user space to contribute their own knowledge and opinions on library materials and services. This experience is beneficial for patrons and librarians alike; by reviewing, tagging and networking the user takes an active role in the catalog. Everyone in the community can contribute and share their knowledge through AquaBrowser.
See Also: Tim Spalding Comments About the Deal on the LibraryThing Blog
See Also: Recent Webcast and Lecture from the Library of Congress with LibraryThing Founder, Tim Spalding.
It's use as a tool to manage your own collection of books is excellent.
These comments for the use of LibraryThing as a group resource. LibraryThing is growing quickly. Congrats to Tim. We are wondering what will be done to keep spam tags, phony reviews, etc. out of the database? In other words, as the service grows, what would stop someone from tagging a book with the most popular tags that are not relevant so they have a better chance of being seen? Also, while reviewing the very interesting Zeitgeist, a few questions and additional comments.
A) Can various spellings be brought together into a single tag? For example: Humor and humour. I did notice this for similar situations.
B) Can e-Books be linked (if available) when the full text online? For example, Macbeth linked to this version from the University of Victoria. Or, working with the Online Books Page, the ICDL, The World Public Library and Discover ebrary to name just a few?
C) Should some of the tags have scope notes? Would this make for better tagging? For example, what are the subtle differences between young adult, juvenile, children's, children, picture book, and children's picture book? What are the differences between library and libraries? Should I use paperback or soft cover (a libarian might know the difference but what about others? Finally, differences between book and books or aircraft and airplane? What we're asking for is some guidance.
D) Would dates provided in a separate field? 2005, 2006, etc. might be more useful if we would knew that this is the copyright date OR is it when the book is taking place or period of time it's covering?
E) Finally, same item, many records. For example, can these items be brought together into one record with various items and editions. What about related materials like the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory also based on the Dahl book. Some FRBR is in place with more to come.
UPDATE: While we don't agree on all issues (what fun would that be?), we can add that our brief chat with Tim Spalding today was interesting, thought provoking, and something we hope to do again very soon. It was cool to talk with someone who sees value in traditional cataloging and user-based tagging. All of this is more reason to watch his presentation at the Library of Congress.
+ Ask.com Smart Answer: The Periodic Table of Elements
++ The Complete Periodic Table of Elements
With numerous additional resources and a drop-down menu listing each element. Click it and it will take you to the Smart Answer page for that element. Of course, you can also search for it.
++ Specific Element: Calcium
++ Specific Element: Oxygen
Each result includes:
+ Symbol + Hyperlink
+ Atomic Number + Hyperlink
+ Relative Atomic Mass + Hyperlink
+ Discovery Info + Hyperlink
+ History (with link to WebElements)
+ Key Facts (with link to Los Alamos)
+ Chemical Data (with link to Chemsoc)
* Gary is Director of Online Resources at Ask.com
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