Dear winways,
Welcome to the July 2015 State of the Thing! Last month's TinyCat announcement got great responses, and we've continued adding new features and updating the old in preparation for its release. I'm sorry we're a little late this month—we've been busy, and I've been unexpectedly away part of this week, to boot.
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New Formats on LibraryThing
This has been the summer of new features on LibraryThing. Earlier this month we rolled out "phase 1" of big format changes—we've introduced the ability to see and change the media format for each item in your library: hardcover, paperback, ebook, CD, sheet music, and many more. This new "Media" field has already been calculated for all your books.
You can see the LibraryThing Media Taxonomy here, and add the Media field to your catalog display by editing your Display Styles. Test it out and come let us know what you think on Talk.
Since its initial release, the Media feature has been expanded upon: we've also added a "Media Source" field, which allows you to see where your media information is coming from; members can now disable ISBN and work level information from contributing to your media; and the Media field has been incorporated into Power Edit, which lets you edit the media format for multiple items at once.
In Case You Missed It: TinyCat for Small Libraries
Last month, we announced TinyCat, a brand new product from LibraryThing, built for small libraries. It turns your LibraryThing catalog into a simple, powerful online catalog (or OPAC).
TinyCat offers a new way to view your catalog that's cleaner, patron-friendly, and mobile-ready. Come join the discussion on Talk.
We're still busy preparing TinyCat for its beta release. If you're interested in getting updates specifically about TinyCat, let me know, and I'll add you to our TinyCat mailing list! You can reply to me (Loranne) via this email (loranne@librarything.com), or reach out to us at info@librarything.com.
More New Features
Site Search and Your Books. LibraryThing's distinction between searching Your Books and searching the entire site has long been a source of frustration for members. Depending on where you are on the site, there are two search boxes. Those two boxes will remain, but now, using the Search Site box (the one that appears directly below your username in the upper-right corner when you're signed in) will retrieve information about Your Books, too. You'll see counts and links to search your catalog at the top of the of the left-hand menu on the search results page. Check it out!
All the Data on Add Books. By popular demand, we've added the ability to see all the data you're getting when you add a book. The data that comes along with adding a book is largely source dependent, and now you can see everything that's coming along with it, including ISBN, publication info, call numbers, and other authors. Take a look and tell us what you think on Talk.
Power Edit Grows Up. Power Edit is a big kid now, and we've made some flow changes to reflect that. Now, when executing a change—instead of launching a new page—you'll see a progress bar. This both gives you a better idea of how long your edits should take to process, and prevents members from navigating away, only to re-try their Power Edit, stacking edits upon edits. See it in action and join our discussion on Talk.
Cover Flags Update. We've updated the Helpers: Cover Flags page just today—now you can also see whether you've already voted on a flagged cover or not. Feedback is welcome on Talk.
Talk of the Thing
Which novels do you champion? Most book lovers tend to have a book or ten up their sleeve that they recommend to anyone who will listen. What books do you find yourself recommending time and time again? Come join the discussion (and get some great book recs while you're at it) on Talk.
Big Idea Books. Books that revolve around "Big Ideas"—drawing conclusions about human nature, scientific discoveries, and more—are frequently books reads gravitate towards. What are some of your favorites? Come tell us on Talk.
Free Books: Early Reviewers
You are not currently signed up for LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. You are missing out!
Early Reviewers offers free books to members—about 100 titles a month! Since 2007, we've given out over 160,000 books. The catch? Publishes want your honest review. How you review a book won't help or hurt your chances of winning books in the future, but not reviewing your winning will.
» Sign up for Early Reviewers
The July batch of Early Reviewers books contains 2,650 copies of 102 different titles. The deadline to request a free book is Monday, July 27th at 6pm, Eastern. Look for the August batch around the 3rd.
The most requested books so far from the July batch:
More free books: Member Giveaways
At any given time, there are hundreds of books available from our Member Giveaways program. It's like Early Reviewers, but isn't limited to select publishers—any author or member can post books. Request books, or offer your own!
Hot titles this month
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- What If? by Randall Munroe
- The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
- The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
- Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
That's it for this month! I'll see you all in August.
Questions, comments, ideas? Send them my way.
—Loranne (loranne@librarything.com)
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