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Public Library Signs Up for LibraryThing

The Danbury Public Library is the first public library to sign up for LibraryThing, where individual readers classify and comment on books. Library Journal reports:

LibraryThing developer Tim Spalding may have warned in LJ four months ago that public libraries were more scared of user-contributed data than academic ones, but he?s found a taker in the Danbury Public Library (DPL), CT...It went live May 13, and initial promotional efforts are under way, DPL coordinator of library automation Kate Sheehan said. DPL?s tags are "keywords and labels used by regular people to categorize books," explains DPL in its catalog.

Sounds great, but of course, there's a catch...

Patrons can?t add their own tags at the moment, said Sheehan; it would require more work with the library?s automation product from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., and DPL users couldn?t generate the number of tags needed for effective use.

Eventually (sooner rather than later), ILS systems or libraries themselves will have to develop interfaces so that patrons can communicate not just with the library (in terms of requests, or renewals, or what have you) but with one another. The day of the passive patron is over. And it's critical to library relevancy that patrons be able to interact - to chat, to collaborate, to set up their own Library Thing-ish pages - with one another.
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