How%20to%20Catalog%20your%20American%20Space%20collections%20with%20LibraryThing

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How to Catalog your American Space collections
with LibraryThing

• A How-to guide for the curious, the timid, the
  confused, and the erstwhile cataloger
• Steve Perry, IRO, Accra
• Karen Hartman, IRO, Rome
• Carol Bean, IRO, Belgrade
• November 2013

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About LibraryThing

• Library Thing is a free service for cataloging
  your book collections. It is most appropriate for
  smaller collections that dont circulate
  materials, as Library Thing does not have a
  circulation module.
• Another limitation of Library Thing is that it is
  meant for Books only, it is not meant as a
  cataloging tool for videos, periodicals,
  magazines, etc.

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About LibraryThing (cont.)

• However, Library Thing (LT) does meet the new
  Standards for American Spaces for both IRCs and
  Corners requiring each space to have an online
  catalog of their collections LT also provides an
  ongoing inventory for your collections. The
  following is from the Standards
• The collection is accessible via an online
  public access catalog accessible to visitors on a
  dedicated computer terminal.

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FIRST Are you a member of LibraryThing?

• If not, sign up! Use Organization rather than
  the Personal option.
• http//www.librarything.com

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Use an abbreviated version of your Corners name
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STEP 1 go to Librarything.com -- click on the
JOIN NOW tab if youre an IRC or American
Corner, use Organization rather than the Personal
option when completing this part.
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You will see a page similar to this, to verify
you are a real person.
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You can skip the next step for now.
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Once you are logged in, you will see a page
similar to this
Click on the Add Books link
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This is the ADD BOOKS Tab
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This is the ADD BOOKS Tab after you begin adding
books
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In the ADD BOOKS Tab, you can search by ISBN,
Title, Author, etc.
Make sure you click the Library of Congress
button -- for consistency of cataloging.
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Click on the title of the book that appears as a
result of your search to the right of that
title, you will see an edit pencil click on the
edit book link to catalog this book for your
collections.
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Clicking on the edit link brings up a basic
template you still need to localize it for your
collections.
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Ensure that the Author and Title are correct in
the template. TAGS are enhanced subject headings
think of them as keywords that your patrons
might think of to locate a book. In this example,
I input Tags that made more sense for my patrons.

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One helpful way to look for possible Tags is to
go to the WorldCat site http//www.worldcat.org
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Notice the rich use of Tags in Worldcat these
are all possibilities for your collection as well.
NOTE POSSIBLE TAGS YOU CAN USE
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Basic Cataloging in the ADD BOOKs MODE
type the date you are cataloging the book in the
Date Acquired box

Rule of thumb for Call Numbers add the year of
publication and authors last four letters in the
Dewey field
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Save your work by clicking on the Save key at the
bottom of the template this will add the book
to your collection
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When you have cataloged a number of books, you
will want to give the URL of your new online
catalog to your patrons so they can search your
collections remotely.
Click on the Your Books tab
This is the URL to give your patrons
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When you have cataloged a number of books, you
will want to give the URL of your new online
catalog to your patrons so they can search your
collections remotely.
Patrons can use the search this library box
Patrons can use the search your library box
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You can also import books from a spreadsheet
Click on the Add Books tab
Click on the Import Books link at the bottom of
the page.
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Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click
on the example link at the bottom to get the
format.
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Copy the entire text and paste it into a plain
text document (for example, using Notepad), and
save the document as a .csv file (for example,
newbooks.csv)
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In Excel, go to the file menu and click on
Import and select the CSV file option. Click
the Import button at the bottom and navigate to
the file you saved.
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Excel will show you the options in the Import
Wizard. In the first screen be sure to select
Delimited then click the Next button
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In the next window, make sure only comma is
checked (uncheck all other options), then click
the Next button.
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In the next screen, make sure General is
selected for the data format, then click the
Finish button.
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The final window will give you the option of
creating a new sheet or importing the data into
the existing sheet. Choose Existing sheet
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If you have spreadsheets with your book orders,
copy the data from your spreadsheets into the new
spreadsheet in the appropriate column.
Sample book order
Copy from here to here
Spreadsheet created from LibraryThings example
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Note that ISBNs can be either ISBN-9 or ISBN-13
ISBN from example
ISBNs pasted from sample spreadsheet
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When you are finished, delete the first row in
the new spreadsheet (LibraryThings example book)
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If you open the file in Notepad, it will look
something like this.
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Go back to the Import Books page in LibraryThing
and click the button to Choose File
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LibraryThing will give you some options
Switch the first two source options from 1
Amazon.com, 2 Library of Congress
When you are done, click the Import books button
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You will see a confirmation page like this. If
you click on the Import Page link, you will see
the queue listed at the bottom of the page.
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When the import is finished, you will see your
books listed in the Your Books page
Remember to check the imported records and fix or
edit the fields. Click on the pencil icon to
edit.
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What happens when you are weeding your
collections and you need to delete a particular
book?
click on Your Books
Select List
Look for the red X for Delete
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Want to promote your collections? A cool idea is
to click on Your Books and then Covers consider
printing this out and placing your contact info
on it
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For more advanced users what happens when you
cant find a cataloging record?First, consult
detailed summaries of the Dewey System
http//www.oclc.org/en-US/dewey/resources/summarie
s.html or http//www.gutenberg.org/files/12513/125
13-h/12513-h.htm
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You are attempting to catalog a book on President
Truman and cant locate a record with a Dewey
Number in Library Thing

• Here are some steps
• Google Presidents and Dewey Decimal System for
  sample call numbers.
• You learn that the principal Dewey Number is
  973.099
• The book was published in 2009 on President
  Truman and the author is SCHMIDT
• One possible solution is to write the call number
  as follows
• 973.009
• TRUMAN
• 2009
• SCHMI

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Original Cataloging Next Steps

• Since this is original cataloging, write the call
  number and the name of the book down separately
  in an Excel Spreadsheet you are compiling for
  this purpose.
• This is so you wont use the number again for a
  similar book on the same subject.
• At this point, you can now insert the call number
  in the Dewey field in the record that you found
  for this book.

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Example Below

INSERT DEWE Y NUMBER HERE
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If you dont find any record for the book you are
attempting to catalog, you always can use the Add
Manually click ADD BOOKS, and look for the link
at the bottom of the page . Simply complete all
fields, including the Dewey Number.
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ADDITIONAL HINTS

• If more than one person in an American Space will
  be using Library Thing, it is very important that
  they use Tags consistently.
• Therefore it is considered a best practice if you
  can print out the Tags and have everybody follow
  their use. New tags can be added at any time.
• A good idea to print the TAGS field weekly to
  capture all the new Tags that have been created.

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To do this, Click on the Tab YOUR BOOKS and then
TAGS also a best practice to edit the Tags each
year for consistency and correct spelling you
will see an edit button when you hover over each
TAG
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Finally, Library Thing only allows 200 books to
be cataloged for free after that you will be
charged

• However, American Spaces are exempted from this
  charge, via agreement with Library Thing
  Management.

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First Make sure your profile is filled in.
Click the Home tab
Click the Edit your profile link
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Fill in the About page, then go to Account
Settings
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Change the settings to Organization
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Change the settings to Library
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Next Step make sure you have properly
identified your Corner.

• Library organizations can add up to 5,000 items.
  What if you have more?
• Be sure to identify your account as an American
  Corner
• American Corner libraries have blanket approval
  for up to 10,000 items.

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Problems? Contact your IRO

• If LibraryThing isnt allowing you to add items
• All you need to do is to write your regional IRO
  with the name of your specific Library Thing
  catalog.
• This can be found (when logged into Library
  Thing) by clicking on the Tab Your Books the
  name will appear in the space for the URL.

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Example of how to find your catalog URL in
Library Thing (Click on tab YOUR BOOKS)
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Creating a style with standard information in
Library Thing

• LibraryThing allows you to create a standardized
  style so that uniform information in a certain
  standard order -will appear each and every time.
• This will enhance the functionality and
  usefulness of Library Thing.
• To do this, click on the wheel when you are
  logged in example in next slide.

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The Wheel gives you access to a standardized
style guide Click on the Tab Your Books and
you will see the Wheel
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Clicking on the Wheel gives you control over
how your information will appear to users --
allows a uniform style guide on how you wish to
display this information we recommend Style C
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After selecting the style and deciding you wish
your information to be displayed in your catalog,
be sure to Save Changes .
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• Learn More About It!
• Many IRCs or ACs have used LibraryThing to make
  their collections available to the public Here
  are just a few that have done this
• Buenos Aires IRC http//www.librarything.com/catal
  og/IRCBuenosAires http//www.librarything.com/cat
  alog/IRCBuenosAires
• Krakow IRC http//www.librarything.com/catalog/AIR
  C_KRAKOW
• Managua IRC http//www.librarything.com/catalog/IR
  CManagua/ http//www.librarything.com/catalog/IR
  CManagua/
• Nairobi IRC http//www.librarything.com/catalog/IR
  Cnairobi http//www.librarything.com/catalog/IRCn
  airobi
• Samara AC http//www.librarything.com/catalog/Sama
  raAC http//www.librarything.com/catalog/SamaraAC

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We hope this information has been useful to you

• Please ask your regional IRO should you have
  further questions.

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How to Catalog with LibraryThing

• Brought to you by
• Steve Perry, IRO, Accra
• Karen Hartman, IRO, Rome
• Carol Bean, IRO, Belgrade
• January 2014