When Does Tim Spalding Sleep? The New Services Keep Coming from LibraryThing
(UPDATED 1/26) The Price List for Library Anywhere is Now Available. It's linked below or simply click here.
Wow, LibraryThing is on a roll of late with the introduction new services and Founder and Developer, Tim Spalding, must not be getting a lot of sleep these days. (-: Of course, Tim's reduced hours hitting the pillow means new, cool and useful services for info pros and the public. In other words, his lack of sleep is our gain.
On January 6th we posted about a new (and free) iPhone app named "Local Books." It offers a bunch of features including information from a database of 51,000 libraries and bookstores from around the globe. If you're looking for "bookish" events "Local Books" is essential.
That announcement was almost two weeks ago. Today, at ALA Midwinter LibraryThing is "showing off" some new services. We can't wait to use them (we're not attending ALA In Boston).
First, an "enhancement" for LibraryThing for Libraries (a library 2.0 online catalog for sale to libraries) named Shelf Browse.
What's It All About?
Browse your library’s shelves visually, just as you would do in the physical library. Shelf Browse lets your patrons see where a book sits on your actual shelves, and what’s near it. It includes a “mini-browser” that sits on your detail pages, and a full-screen version, launched from the detail page.
Awesome. Why? Although many OPAC's allow browsing by call number allowing shelf browsing it's to difficult for many users and to use it they would need to know about it in the first place. I have a feeling this is going to be much easier to use and therefore allow a bit of serendipity to hopefully make a users experience even more productive.
Shelf Browse has been released.
Next, LibraryThing is getting even more into mobile library business (remember, they have the iPhone app) with the release (Coming Soon, they are looking for beta testers) of Library Anywhere. This service/software integrates with your non-mobile OPAC. According to a blog post, Library Anywhere also allows users to place holds, includes iPhone and Android apps, and requires no installation.
We're very excited to see Library Anywhere in action. Of course, getting the software running is only one part of the battle. In the case of Library Anywhere and other services (mobile or desktop) the bigger challenge is getting users to know about and use them on a regular basis.
Finally, it's rather exciting to see a company in the library space that not that long ago had one or two products/services branching out to enhance what they already have and make new services available.
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