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LibraryThing for Libraries
Product Information: FAQs

FAQs: General

FAQs: General

Basics

What is LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL)?

LibraryThing for Libraries enriches your library's online catalog with the power and fun of Library 2.0.
With LTFL in your catalog, your patrons can browse, search and engage with your libraries' holdings in a new, powerful and engaging way.

What's the difference between LibraryThing and LibraryThing for Libraries?

LibraryThing is the main site, meant for all people to come and share their books. Learn more about LibraryThing here.

LibraryThing for Libraries is a product, built by us at LibraryThing, for libraries with existing library systems (ILS/OPACs).

What does LibraryThing for Libraries do?

LTFL has several OPAC-boosting products:

Catalog Enhancements package This provides more valuable data for each book, and more points for searching. All of the search information - recommended titles, similar editions, tag search results - relate back to what can be found in your OPAC.

Book recommendations. High-quality "recommended" or "similar" books, like reader's advisory that points to books available in your library.
Tag-based discovery. Tag clouds for books, and tag-based search and discovery, drawn from the 65 million tags added by LibraryThing members.
Other editions and translations. Provides links to bib pages of other editions and translations of a work that can be found an your library. (This works much like the FRBR model.)

Reviews Enhancement package

Patron reviews. Let your patrons rate and review right in your catalog.
Already full. Comes with over 450,000 high-quality reviews from LibraryThing.com.
Widgets. Patrons can show off reviews and their library with library-branded "blog widgets" and a Facebook application.
- The Facebook app is called At My Library, and as it shows up in Facebook, it's branded with your library's name and logo, and links back to your catalog.
- The blog widget is a chunk of code patrons can add to their blog to show off the reviews they've written.

You can choose to moderate reviews, and create multiple moderator accounts for other staff.

Shelf Browse Enhancement package

Shelf Browse uses your call numbers and ties them with cover images to give your patrons the context and serendipity of browsing a physical shelf.
Includes a mini shelf-browser that sits on your detail pages, and a full-screen version, that launches from the detail page.

How does LibraryThing for Libraries work?

LibraryThing for Libraries enhances your catalog with a few lines of HTML and a file of your records. Installation is extremely easy - you cut and paste some HTML we give you, export a list of your records, and you're ready to go. If you'd like to know more about the knitty gritty of how LTFL works, read more in the technical FAQ.

Will LTFL work with my OPAC?

LTFL will work with every major OPAC/ILS, and most of the minor ones too. See the list of libraries using LTFL here.

Will adding LTFL enhancements make my OPAC slower?

Your OPAC will continue operating at the same speed it currently does. LibraryThing's JavaScript architecture involves no additional load on your ILS/OPAC server.

The LibraryThing for Libraries enhancements often "appear" slightly after the rest of the page.

What about accessibility?

LibraryThing for Libraries enhancements are designed to work with screen readers, screen magnifiers, and other assistive technologies, and are coded to meet or exceed government accessibility guidelines.

Where does LibraryThing for Libraries get its data?

LibraryThing for Libraries builds off the world's largest personal- and social-cataloging site, LibraryThing. Since 2005 LibraryThing members have added over 54 million books and 66 million tags.

What are the minimum requirements?

Catalog Enhancement

A system that allows you to edit a portion of the HTML (even just the footer) of your OPAC
An ISBN somewhere on the bib record page (it doesn't have to be visible, it can be in the code somewhere)
The ability to export your records in either tab delimited or MARC format. Read more in the Exporting and Uploading section of the technical FAQ.
The system can link to an item record based upon ISBN

Shelf Browse Enhancement

A system that allows you to edit a portion of the HTML (even just the footer) of your OPAC
An ISBN somewhere on the bib record page (it doesn't have to be visible, it can be in the code somewhere)
The system can link to an item record based upon ISBN
The ability to export your records, including bib-level or item-level call numbers.

Reviews Enhancement

A system that allows you to edit a portion of the HTML (even just the footer) of your OPAC

The Reviews Enhancement does not require the other two things that the Catalog Enhancements require.

An ISBN somewhere on the bib result page (it doesn't have to be visible, it can be in the code somewhere)

What does LibraryThing for Libraries look like?

LibraryThing for Libraries adds information wherever you'd like it, and is designed to look just like the rest of the OPAC page. Visually seamless, patrons will just see the added data from the enhancements. Patrons are never taken outside of your site.

How much of our collection will LTFL enhance?

Total number of ISBNs.

With the Reviews Enhancement package, every item in your online catalog is available to review. Reviews coming from other libraries and LibraryThing require an ISBN.
The Catalog Enhancement package uses ISBN association, as well as title/author matching.

Overlap. Overlap is the percentage of books that your library and LibraryThing have in common. When LibraryThing for Libraries started in the late spring of 2007, it was common for a public library to have 50% overlap. As of March 2009, the average is around 75%.

Public Libraries - overlap is extremely good for public libraries because of the common popular titles. Read more about how LTFL works in public libraries read the section Why should my public library buy LTFL?
Academic, special, and foreign libraries - tend to have a lower overlap, because of things like the nature of the subjects, or editions of their books. Read about research-based libraries in the section Why should academic libraries buy LTFL? or if your library is outside the U.S, My library is outside the U.S. - can I use LTFL? (below)

The future. As Tim says, "a rising tide raises all boats," and as LibraryThing members continue to add data, the overlap will continue to increase for all libraries.

Does LTFL work with other media in my OPAC?

The Reviews Enhancement package provides reviewing for every item in your catalog, including CDs, DVDs, and anything else with a MARC record. Reviews coming from other libraries and LibraryThing will only show for items with ISBNs, limiting them generally to books and audiobooks.

The Catalog Enhancements package is based on ISBNs, therefore primarily with books and audiobooks.

Can I see a live example of LibraryThing for Libraries in an OPAC?

The Danbury library in Danbury CT was the first library in the world to put LibraryThing for Libraries on its live catalog. Play with their catalog (complete with LibraryThing for Libraries's other editions and translations, similar books, and tags and tag browser), and read our blog post.

Is there a list of all the libraries participating in LibraryThing for Libraries?

Yes! Go check it out.

The Catalog Enhancement package

Similar Titles (Recommendations)

How are recommendations made?

Recommendations are based on data collected from the over 52 million books on LibraryThing -- what books members of the site own, how they rate them, and how they tag them. Library cataloging data, including subject headings and call numbers, is also used to improve the recommendations.

Tag-based Discovery

What are tags? What is a tag cloud?

Tags are key words and labels used by regular people to describe a book. Read more about tags. A tag cloud is a visual organization of tags - the larger the text, the more people have tagged that item with that specific word.

How do tags work with my catalog?

Any time you look at the bib page of an item that we have data for, you'll see tags about the book.

Does LibraryThing for Libraries use all the tags in LibraryThing?

Preselected LTFL tags have been approved for usefulness and appropriateness by LibraryThing librarians. Highly personal tags (to read, gift from mom) have been excluded. As for risqué words as tags, we have a rating system with three levels - each library can choose to include them or not. Thus far, most libraries have not chosen to limit their tags.

How does the "Tag Browser" work?

You can use the Tag Browser as another way to find books in your library. Click on any tag - this pulls up the tag browser. The space on the right shows you the items that also have the tag. These items are not sorted alphabetically, but by its relevance to the tag. You'll also see the cloud of tags for the item you're looking at, and a cloud of tags that are similar to the tag you clicked or searched on.

Can I add my own tags?

No. Currently, all tags come from LibraryThing.com.

Other Editions

Where does the 'other editions' data come from?

All 'other editions' information comes from LibraryThing, a book cataloging website. Recommendations come from LibraryThing members who combine different editions (and their ISBNs) to form one work. Combinations can include different editions of the same language, or other languages as well.

The Reviews Enhancement package

Is it hard to add Reviews if you already have the Catalog Enhancements?

Not at all! You've already done half the work. In fact, we have an install that just requires you to check a box - that's it - and the Reviews installation is done. If you're interested in adding Reviews to your OPAC, email Peder.Christensen @ bowker.com.

Patron reviews

Can patrons review items other than books?

Yes! Any item in your online catalog can be reviewed, including (but not limited to) DVDs and CDs.

How does a patron review?

To be able to rate and review, patrons sign up for an account. This is so they can keep track of all the reviews they've done, and be able to do neat things (like link a review to their blog). Patrons can sign up for accounts when they click on any "see reviews/add a review" link, which is found on results and bib pages. This is also where patrons write their reviews, so the patron needs to search for the item they want to review to be able to write a review for the item. They choose the item, sign in, review it, and submit it all within the OPAC.

Can I moderate reviews?

Absolutely. A moderation panel is built into LTFL. If you wish, you can designate others with limited admin accounts to help moderate reviews, as well. You can have an email sent notifying when there are reviews to moderate.

Reviews from other libraries

Are reviews coming from other libraries moderated?

All reviews that come from other libraries are moderated by librarians at the home library.

Reviews from LibraryThing

How did you vet the reviews?

We have vetted all the reviews coming from LibraryThing for a number of criteria - if they have a URL (because it would take you away from the catalog), copyright infringement, and 'reviewiness', meaning that they've evaluated the item, not just said 'it sucks'.

Are reviews moderated for bad words?

Content is not moderated. The standard "bad" words are st*rred. (That's starred, not stirred.)

LTFL Reviews Enhancement: Facebook App

The LTFL Facebook app At My Library gives your patrons the opportunity to share the reviews they write in your catalog with their friends on Facebook. The app gives patrons the option to add a sidebar to their Facebook page called "At My Library" to list recent reviews, and to have new reviews that are written for your catalog show up in their Friend Feed. All branding and links in At My Library refer to your library and catalog pages. Your patrons can change where and how their reviews are displayed.

The Facebook app stands alone (within Facebook.com), and any patron of yours who signs up to review in your catalog can then go add the app (signing up using the same LTFL username and password). The link to the app is here - but you have to be a member of Facebook to see it. See screenshots of At My Library here

LTFL Reviews Enhancement: Blog Widgets

The blog widgets let you show off reviews for items in your collection, and lets your patrons to show off their reviews - and their love for your library - where they “live” online.

You can promote your collection, your patrons, and your reviews on your library's site, blog, MySpace, Facebook, or anywhere else you care to add it. Newly added categories allow you to create widgets that show off your summer reading reviews on your kids or teen page, your One Book, One City reviews on your front page, what your book clubs are reading on your book club page, or anything else you care to promote anywhere you want to put it.

Your patrons can proudly display reviews they write on any website they can edit. The easy cut-and-paste format gives them the opportunity to add the reviews they write to their website, blog, MySpace, or any other web presence.

You can read Tim's blog post about the blog widgets here.

Shelf Browse Enhancement

Where do the book covers come from?

Shelf Browse uses Syndetics book covers.

What about collections? Do you use those too, or just straight-up call numbers?

Shelf Browse can use your collection codes in conjunction with your call numbers to limit what appears in the Shelf Browser. If you’re looking at a book in a children’s collection, you see only other children’s books around that book, etc.

Can I customize what it looks like at all?

Yes! You can change the text of the Shelf Browse button, use CSS to change colors to match your OPAC, or change the size of the button altogether.

Does Shelf Browse know whether a book is checked out or not?

Shelf Browse doesn't distinguish between books checked in or out--it shows you everything that would be on the shelf, regardless of whether it's currently checked in. We think this is a bonus, actually, since you want people to know you have new books even if they have to place a hold on them, etc.

Customizing the Enhancements

Can I brand LTFL to my library?

Absolutely! Here are some specifics:

The enhancements appear in your catalog without reference to LibraryThing.com.
You can choose to change the wording on the headers. Example: Similar Titles to your own text like Recommendations.
The Reviews widgets gives patrons the ability to add their reviews to their blog or Facebook profile. The name on the widget is populated with your library name, and links in the widgets are URLs to your catalog, bringing more eyes to your catalog pages.

Pricing and Accounts

What does LTFL cost?

We charge a yearly subscription fee based. For pricing information contact us. We've partnered with Bowker to help us with the sales of LTFL, so pricing questions go to peder.christensen@bowker.com. If you have technical questions, please email Abby@librarything.com.

You can test the LTFL enhancements, live on your site, so you can get feedback from patrons.

To test, you can use your own development server, or you can use a bit of clever code to simulate a testing environment without needing any special equipment.

We charge no fees for setting up and testing LTFL.

Can I get a rundown of how the enhancements are installed?

But of course.

To start, use the LibraryThing for Libraries form to get pricing information or a test account.
Once you've requested a test account with your Bowker representative, we'll email you with your account information. You'll also get installation instructions along with an invite to the Google Group we use to discuss the enhancements and keep you up-to-date on the current enhancements like new features, and for the enhancements we're working on next.
To install, you do about three things:

Export a file of your MARC records.
Set your ISBN-based URL. This points to another bib page using an ISBN, so patrons can follow links to other items.
Paste the the code we give you into your OPAC.

We have instructions on how to do all of this.
Once you've added the HTML, your catalog will automatically connect to our servers to display all the LibraryThing goodness. Add the ISBN-based URL (which we help you determine) and you'll start getting links to other items in your catalog.
You can use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to change the enhancements to look like your site, or we can help you with that.
That's it!

Can I test out the enhancements before I commit to adding them to my catalog?

Absolutely. You can test LibraryThing for Libraries in-house without your patrons noticing any changes, even if you don't have a separate testing server. You can turn it on or off at anytime, as well.

Public Libraries

Why should my public library buy LTFL?

The added value is incredible - data from the #1 book site means powerful results, making you like Amazon Easy to implement, even for non-tech folks

Recommended reads - like in-catalog readers advisory
Other editions - know what your options are without having to jump back to the search screen
Tags - full tag browser brought into your OPAC, complete with the crème-de-la-crème tags from LibraryThing.

Academic Libraries

Why should academic libraries buy LTFL?

The application of the LTFL enhancements is inherently different for an academic or special library.

Recommended reads - the items suggested are generally connected in deeply meaningful ways, and can provide research suggestions otherwise untapped
Other editions - know what other versions of the text are in your collection
Tags - describes each item in ways

LTFL gives you a lot of additional ways of searching your existing collection in an inexpensive way, considering how much data you're getting.

Consortial Libraries

Will LibraryThing for Libraries work with a library consortium?

Yes - in fact, we offer a 20%-or-better discount to consortia, because it makes implementing LTFL easier (than it naturally is).

My library is part of a consortium, but no one else is interested - can I still use LTFL?

It depends on how your consortium is implemented and whether you share an OPAC. You must have access to the HTML of your OPAC, or a consortial Head Being who is willing to put the code in for you (which they need to do once, and it's done). You also need the ability to export your records in either tab delimited or MARC format. This action is something that needs to happen on a continual basis - generally libraries update their records once a month.

Several libraries in my consortium are interested, but not everyone - how does that affect pricing?

Pricing will be given to each individual library.

What if our consortium doesn't share information within our OPAC?

Depending on your preference, each individual library can keep its data separate, or together, within the consortium.

Non-American Libraries

My library is outside the U.S. - can I use LTFL?

Yes - many libraries outside the U.S. are using LTFL - see the list (of all libraries) using LTFL here.

My library's catalog isn't in English - will LTFL still work?

Yes. The enhancements may work differently:

Other Editions and Recommends always returns items that are in your library, so any items (in any language) that LibraryThing has data for will show up.
Tags also work, but the words will be in English.

The best thing to do if you're interested is to email abby@librarything.com for an account. You can apply the enhancements to your OPAC and see what comes up. One of the first indicators you'll have is on the main LTFL account page - your overlap with the LibraryThing data. Since you can test LTFL for free, setting up an account is the easiest way to see how the enhancements will work with your data.

Can I change the words that appear in the catalog to my preferred language?

You can change the names of the enhancements. How you do this is in the Technical FAQ.

The tags will appear in English, as well as any text in the Tag Browser.

Questions that don't neatly fit elsewhere

Can I use LibraryThing for Libraries as my online catalog?

No. If you're interested in using LibraryThing to catalog your small library's books, check out our organizational accounts. These accounts are general LibraryThing accounts, and do not support item circulation or patron accounts. If you're looking for a complete online library system, consider using the search terms "open source ILS" with your favorite search engine, for freely available options.

Do the LibraryThing for Libraries enhancements work for non-ISBN books?

Indeed - we now match author and title information as well as ISBN, covering even all those pre-ISBN era books.

The Reviews Enhancement requires an ISBN or title/author match to show the reviews coming from other libraries or from LibraryThing.com, but your patrons can review any item in the online catalog - not just books.

I'm not part of a library, so can I use LibraryThing for Libraries?

At present, no. If you're interested in licensing LibraryThing data for bookselling, email tim@librarything.com.

Are there any free LibraryThing widgets I can use for my library?

Yes, we have a book cover widget that is popular with libraries. Read more about it here.

Are there any privacy issues?

We respect the privacy of individual LibraryThing members, LibraryThing for Libraries libraries, and library patrons. When a patron browses your OPAC, their browser's JavaScript interpreter sends the LibraryThing server the ISBN they are looking at and (depending on circumstance) the tag. But LibraryThing is completely de-coupled from your OPAC's patron data. No library patron data is transferred, and no other personal information is sent to or received by LibraryThing. The data included in our enhancements are based on anonymous, aggregated user content. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.

Are the book covers part of LTFL?

Covers (front cover book art) are not part of LTFL. Book covers are freely available (that's right, freely available) with minor restrictions. You can read more here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Free_covers