Tracy Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I have been considering using LibraryThing to keep track of my books. I have been gifted numerous books, and I don't have a good way of knowing what I have and how to incorporate them into our school. Someone suggested that I could use HST+ for the same purpose (which I already own)? Any thoughts as to the advantages of using LibraryThing instead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 (edited) I have been considering using LibraryThing to keep track of my books. I have been gifted numerous books, and I don't have a good way of knowing what I have and how to incorporate them into our school. Someone suggested that I could use HST+ for the same purpose (which I already own)? Any thoughts as to the advantages of using LibraryThing instead? I signed up for Library Thing in order to display our curriculum for the year after I got rid of the affiliate widgets in our blog. After a very short time I started receiving various messages, one from a person trying to get me to join some group or other. I have cancelled the registration and will most likely be deleting our blog also. Too many things too little time! I have books and teacher's guides to read :tongue_smilie:. Anyway, I have HST+ and already have my books on there and that works great for my records. I am trying to decide actually, whether I should just start using HST+ instead of making the time consuming Excel file I make for our schedules and lessons plans each year. I am much happier keeping my books on HST+. At least I know it is my records and do not have to be bothered about anything else. On another note, this is how I label our TOG books ;): [ATTACH]5405[/ATTACH] I am an ex-SLer and have regretted labeling our Core P3/4 and P4/5 books on the outside. When we hit Core K (now called A) I just labelled them on the inside and have been much happier with that, so I decided to use the same approach with our TOG books. I am using the color of the Year Plan not the level. I am just typing the level directly on the color coded label and then sticking it on the inside front cover. If the book will be used with other year plans, I will add another label under it with the color of that year plan. I did not want to go with any fancy labeling. Just a simple approach since I only use Expedit bookcases and usually try to put our books in order based on Core and now Year plan and level. I usually try to fit them in one cubby where possible. Not sure if this helps you but I did not have time to post in your other thread earlier so I am just posting this here ;). ETA: Sorry, the pic is not too clear. It just says "TOG Y1 LG". Edited June 3, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I don't know what HST is but I paid for the lifetime unlimited Librarything account and I love it. It is super easy to use and customize. I think I was contacted by one person once but never again. I really like how it will compare your library to that of other members and then you can look in their libraries to find books you might like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I don't know what HST is but I paid for the lifetime unlimited Librarything account and I love it. It is super easy to use and customize. I think I was contacted by one person once but never again. I really like how it will compare your library to that of other members and then you can look in their libraries to find books you might like.:iagree: LibraryThing itself sends out a monthly newsletter and little else. Occasionally I'll get a note from another user who is very excited to find that someone else has their favourite book. There may be a way to turn off email notification if that is an annoyance. I think you can also set your libraries to private if you'd rather no one could se your books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 I think I read that you can make your library private on LibraryThing. I definitely would not be interested in using for social networking. I was thinking that the advantage to using LibraryThing would be in being able to tag a book for particular TOG Year-plans and for particular levels so that I would be able to pull up a list of everything I already own for that Year-plan. I don't think there is a way to do that with HST+. Is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I don't think there is a way to do that with HST+. Is that right?There's simply no comparison between the two. LibraryThing is a full featured organizational tool you can access anywhere you have an internet connection. You can export data and quickly import your existing library with a Cue Cat. If you have more than a few dozen books, LibraryThing is the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I was thinking that the advantage to using LibraryThing would be in being able to tag a book for particular TOG Year-plans and for particular levels so that I would be able to pull up a list of everything I already own for that Year-plan. I don't think there is a way to do that with HST+. Is that right? I use custom fields for that type of thing. For example, in my HST+, I have "ES - Intro to Science", "Biblioplan K-2 Readers", "Biblioplan Read-Alouds", etc. Then you can drag the custom field up to the top so it groups by the custom field, and there you can see every book in that field. So you could label them "TOG Y1 LG", "TOG Y1 UG", etc. That's one way to do it. You could also do it via the resource type. My resource type is "book", but you could change it to "TOG Y1 LG book", that sort of thing. There may be other ways to do it as well! The benefit to having it in HST+ is if you plan to have lesson plans for TOG, you would have the resource right there already and could just select it from a drop-down when making an assignment for that book. You may not be making lesson plans for TOG though. I don't know how you plan to use it - another thing where there are may ways to do it. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 There's simply no comparison between the two. LibraryThing is a full featured organizational tool you can access anywhere you have an internet connection. You can export data and quickly import your existing library with a Cue Cat. If you have more than a few dozen books, LibraryThing is the way to go. I think I've heard of people using a Cue Cat with HST+ also, though there definitely is no internet capability if you put them in HST+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 There's simply no comparison between the two. LibraryThing is a full featured organizational tool you can access anywhere you have an internet connection. You can export data and quickly import your existing library with a Cue Cat. If you have more than a few dozen books, LibraryThing is the way to go. Thanks! This is what I was thinking. I don't want to only be able to look up a title at a time to see if I have it. I want to be able get a whole list of books that I have that are listed under a particular category. It would also be nice if I could search my book list to see if I have a good substitute for an assigned title. Can you tell me, does LibraryThing suggest tags when you input a book? I have so many books that I haven't read, and I don't know if I will know how to tag them without some time researching each book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 The benefit to having it in HST+ is if you plan to have lesson plans for TOG, you would have the resource right there already and could just select it from a drop-down when making an assignment for that book. Ah, yes, there is that. I do use HST+ to do lesson plans for TOG. I was really wanting to have my cake and eat it, too!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I don't know what HST is but I paid for the lifetime unlimited Librarything account and I love it. It is super easy to use and customize. I think I was contacted by one person once but never again. I really like how it will compare your library to that of other members and then you can look in their libraries to find books you might like. :iagree: I've had LT since...'07, maybe? '06? No one has ever contacted me about anything. :confused: Maybe I should be disappointed? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Ah, yes, there is that. I do use HST+ to do lesson plans for TOG. I was really wanting to have my cake and eat it, too!:) Petition the makers of HST+ for a LibraryThing plugin of some sort? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I use custom fields for that type of thing. For example, in my HST+, I have "ES - Intro to Science", "Biblioplan K-2 Readers", "Biblioplan Read-Alouds", etc. Then you can drag the custom field up to the top so it groups by the custom field, and there you can see every book in that field. So you could label them "TOG Y1 LG", "TOG Y1 UG", etc. That's one way to do it. You could also do it via the resource type. My resource type is "book", but you could change it to "TOG Y1 LG book", that sort of thing. There may be other ways to do it as well! The benefit to having it in HST+ is if you plan to have lesson plans for TOG, you would have the resource right there already and could just select it from a drop-down when making an assignment for that book. You may not be making lesson plans for TOG though. I don't know how you plan to use it - another thing where there are may ways to do it. :D :iagree: I have not used HST+ for lesson planning yet but did organize my books in it last year and it works great. I figure if I do end up using it in the near future for scheduling and lesson planning (which is very likely since I am getting tired of setting up my own in Excel since we have already purchased HST+ ;)) my books will be there. And we have many many books already not just a few dozen. HST+ still works great and it displays the cover of your books too :D when you enter the ISBN. The reason I signed up for Library Thing was to display our books in our blog not for organizational reasons so perhaps this was why I did not care for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maus Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 I've been on LibraryThing since Sept 2009. I have all my settings on private and have never been contacted by anyone. I chose LibraryThing over making my own spread sheet, etc. because it is accessible anywhere I have internet access (or by calling my husband and having him logging in - our next phones will have internet access), and I needed a way to not duplicate books when I go to "Friends of the Library"/Thrift stores/etc. I love LibraryThing for that! Also, we have a LOT of books, even by homeschool standards, so the option of entering by ISBN is wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Thanks, everyone! I think I will likely stay with my original plan and use LT. I am glad to know that you can keep everything private. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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