Online Book Communities

 

Who knew there were so many online book communities?  I knew of Goodreads because I've been a member for two years.  I think these social networking sites are a great way for readers to connect - to find that next book to read.   In this post I will also explore Library Thing, Shelfari, Blooklikes, Biblionasium and Destiny Quest.  Instead of a top ten list, I have a top six list and start with my least favorite online book community.

 

Library Thing

Library Thing has to be my least favorite.  I am a very visual person.  That being said, I just do not like the way the page is laid out.  It's too busy for me.   You can connect to Facebook and Twitter which is a plus. One thing I did like were the recommendations. That was really a nice list. The list had books that looked like popular titles. However, this is not an online book community that I would recommend to kids.

 

 

 



 Booklikes

Coming in fifth place is the site Booklikes.  The thing that bothers me most about this site is the "Popular Discussion" topic that is on my home page.  This particular discussion means nothing to me, so it makes me feel disconnected to any sense of community.  I think its layout is supposed to suggest a blog feel.  And again, this is one I would not recommend to kids. 

 

 

 

 Shelfari

Landing in fourth place is Shelfari.  Had I just been looking at online book communities for adults, I would have picked this one as my favorite just because  it  is visually the most appealing.  Finding groups to join who are relevant to me and asking my friends to join is a snap.  You can browse groups by category or by popularity.  You can make groups private, so that would be an option for school and student groups.   I like the simplicity of the layout.  One of the major drawbacks is that I don't think it is as popular as Goodreads.  When I looked for groups to join, I found several choices but not large numbers that can be found on Goodreads.  Another major drawback is that when you find a book you like the only option is to buy it from Amazon.  A big clue here is Shelfari by Amazon.com.  Enough said.



Biblionasium

Coming in third place is Biblionasium.  This is a great,  kid-friendly online book community.  A classroom teacher can set it up just for his/her kids.  Groups can be formed and challenges can be issued.  There is even a parent component to get parents involved.  Kids can log the number of pages read as well as the time spent reading, lexiles, and reading levels.  Then as a teacher, you can generate reports documenting that data.  Ugh,  there it is.  I just said it.  The "D" word.  Data.  If my main goal is to build a reading culture, I think it is hard to do when you confine kids to reading levels and lexiles.  However those are just options.  I think this site might work well for classrooms, but might be harder to manage at a library level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodreads

Surprisingly, I have to put Goodreads  in second place.  You can easily connect with your Facebook friends and it is fairly easy to navigate your way around.  It is conveniently connected to Amazon so purchasing your next book is just a click away.  But the best part is when looking for a book, you have other options to purchase or even search in a library.  There are many people and groups to follow and join.   You can make groups private which would be an option for kids and schools.  I am always cautions of social networking sites because of the random advertisements, and you just never really know what kind of creepers are lurking in the shadows.  I can see why Goodreads is a popular online book community. 

 

Destiny Quest

And finally, in the number one spot:  Destiny Quest.  While researching these online book communities, I found a component of our circulation system that is used in my library called Destiny Quest.  When logged in to this feature, patrons  can place books on shelves: books read, books currently reading, and books I want to read.  They can also "friend" other students on the Northside Elementary campus, send book recommendations, and add a review to a book.  Books can placed on hold as well as request new titles to add to the collection.  I do wish the program allowed a group set up for discussion of book titles. We have not used the features of Destiny Quest, but I do plan to use it starting in the fall.   I think it will help start to build that culture of reading I am trying to create.