LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by individuals, authors, libraries and publishers.

Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed by Tim Spalding and went live on August 29, 2005. As of April 2011 it has over 1,300,000 users and more than 61 million books catalogued.

Features

The primary feature of LibraryThing is the cataloging of books by importing data from libraries through Z39.50 connections and from six Amazon.com stores. Library sources supply MARC and Dublin Core records to LT; users can import information from 690 libraries, including the Library of Congress, National Library of Australia, the Canadian National Catalogue, the British Library, and Yale University. Should a record not be available from any of these sources, it is also possible to add the book information by using a blank form.

Social features

LibraryThing's social features have been compared to bookmark manager Del.icio.us and the collaborative music service Last.fm. Similar book cataloging sites include Goodreads, Shelfari, aNobii, BookJetty, and weRead.

Publicity

At the end of June 2006, LibraryThing was subject to the Slashdot effect from a Wall Street Journal article. The site's developers added servers to compensate for the increased traffic. In December of the same year, the site received yet more attention from Slashdot over its UnSuggester feature, which draws suggestions from books least likely to appear in the same catalog as a given book.

Ownership and membership

Online bookseller AbeBooks (now owned by Amazon) bought a 40% share in LibraryThing in May 2006 for an undisclosed sum. In January 2009, Cambridge Information Group acquired a minority stake in the company, and their subsidiary Bowker became the official distributor to libraries.