LibraryThing is perfectly explained in this Wall Street Journal article. Short version--it's a website that lets you create an online catalog of your books. It's easy, elegant, and rich with amenities that let you explore your relationship to books. (If you want to, you can do a spot of social networking with other bookfolk, but that's somewhat secondary.)
So here's the remarkable thing: According to WSJ in June 2006, LT had 47,670 registered members, cataloging more than 3.6 million volumes. Just three years later (i.e., now), the statistics have skyrocketed, with almost a million users having catalogued more than 45 million books.
What can possibly account for this? A few thoughts . . .
- People are thrilled to find a way of merging the impersonal world of online information with their own highly personalized stocks of lore.
- People want to preserve a record of their libraries in case of fire, flood, or the collapse of civilization.
- People want to see what life might be like in a universe where everyone is a bookworm.
Probably all of the above--and one more reason (my own chief motivation) that I'll write about in another post.
Meanwhile, click here for alternatives to LibraryThing.
