As you build a personal library of books and other resources at home, you can take advantage of some websites that will help you keep your personal collection organized. Just as the University subscribes to RefWorks so you can keep your scholarly articles and other readings organized, there are several free websites that provide the same function for popular reading materials.
LibraryThing – This website “is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.” LibraryThing is very popular with librarians and other bookish people.
GoodReads – From their about page, they say that “Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 7,000,000 members who have added more than 240,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more.” As you can see, book readers also enjoy using this service.
Shelfari by Amazon is another popular service. They say it “is a community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. Create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books – all for free.” If you are a heavy user of Amazon, you should consider using Shelfari.
If you need any more information, there are plenty of good reviews of these three services from librarians and other readers.
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