Online Book Communities

Online book communities are great ways for librarians, teachers, and anyone who loves books to connect with book lovers around the world.  There are many on the web and it is important to check them out all to see which one fits you.   For this post, I evaluated Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfair, Booklikes and BiblioNasium.  

Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/)

Goodreads is a site I have been a member of for over 2 years.   Signing up only requires your email and setting up a password.  When I sign in, it immediately takes me to my friends and their updates.  I can see what they are reading and ratings they have given.  When I click on My Books, I’m taken to a screen with the books I have cataloged on the site.  Bookshelves are SO easy to make on Goodreads.  I’ve categorized mine by genre and if they are on the Texas Bluebonnet list.  

  

Goodreads will also give you recommendations based on the shelves you've created.  

My profile page is a quick glimpse on how I've used the site.

 I think a major advantage of Goodreads is that it is well used with the library community and education in general.  While I have not spent too much time looking for friends, I follow 3 other users, Dr. Karin Perry (SHSU Professor), one of my teachers and the other librarian I work with.  It is always fun when I see my teacher and colleague and say, “Hey, I saw that you’re reading The Red Queen.  I read it too”.  

 I like the format and find the website intuitive, even the computer illiterate could easily navigate.  This online book community is a winner in my book.

LibraryThing (https://www.librarything.com/)

LibraryThing is another online book community boasting a 2 million users membership.  It’s easy to sign up or you can use your Twitter or Facebook account to log in.  Once you are in, you can catalog your books, join groups based on your interests, and even get information on local events.  You are initially taken to the Dashboard on your homepage.  Below is my profile page:

Here you can see books you’ve recently added, and Tags (like categories) you’ve place your books in.  Adding books is easy and LibraryThing will access repositories such as Amazon and the Library of Congress to get their information.

 

While the display is visually appealing, I found LibraryThing very difficult to get around in.  I wanted to create shelves like I did in Goodreads, and I still haven’t figured out make that happen.  I’m starting to think that your traditional shelf here is labeled as a tag you give the book when you catalog it.  

Based on what I've seen so far, LibraryThing probably would not be my first choice as an online book community. It is not as intuitive as other websites I have visited and I think it has a higher learning curve.  I feel like novice users may give up because they can't figure it out

UPDATE:  One of my readers commented on my blog and gave me the steps to create shelves.  LibraryThing calls them "collections", but they work just like customized shelves.

Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/)

Shelfari is an online book community power by Amazon.  What I really liked is that I could use my existing Amazon account to register.  On the homepage you can see your shelf, groups and select your friends on Facebook and Twitter to see what they are reading.  Since I am not an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, I did not choose to use that option.  A search bar is available at the very top of the page where you can enter in the title, author, members, groups or discussions  On the profile tab, you can make changes to your account and look at your shelf and follow friends activity.  The search bar is still available, and this is probably where I could start if I choose to use this site.  What I didn’t like about Shelfair is that I couldn’t create my own shelves. There are generic shelves (I'm reading, I've read, Planning on Reading), but I’m not sure if there is an option to create your own shelves and I just couldn’t find it. I finally gave up after about 30 minutes of searching.  

The Books Tab allows you to search for books falling under different genres and I would use this tab get recommendations when I need one.  

I believe that major advantage Shelfari has is that is powered by Amazon. And let's face it, almost everyone on the planet has an Amazon account and orders not only books, but everything under the sun from them. I love it that I didn't have to create a new account with a new password, but that it automatically linked with my existing account. The visual display is nice and I would definitely consider this book community.

Booklikes (http://booklikes.com/)
Booklikes is also another online book community. However, what makes this site unique is that it has a blog component. Each user has the opportunity to create and post to a blog. You first sign up using your email and creating a password. Then Booklikes will ask you to check which genres you like to read and walk you through the steps of setting up a blog. Based on your preferences, it will suggest other blogs for you to follow and you can also invite friends through Facebook or Twitter. The visual display is very appealing and easy to use. I quickly set up customized shelves and it was a breeze adding books to my shelf.

  I also tried my hand at posting on the blog created for me by Booklikes. It was relatively easy and the format is typical of what you would find on a generic blog.

 Some features I really liked were that you could create Reading lists or view reading lists made by others. You can also create book challenges, join book clubs, and I really liked the daily deals. Overall, Booklikes has many advantages and is very easy to use. What sets this one apart is the built in blog component. This online book community is a major contender.

BiblioNasium (https://www.biblionasium.com/)
BiblioNasium is very different from the other online book commununites in that it is a platform for students and teachers to connect. Setting up an account is easy and requires an email and password. I set up an educator account.

 You can create classes (groups) and customize a reading programs for classes or even specific students. Some of the functionality includes making booklists and book challenges. Students can log in and track their reading, participate in the challenges and even write book reviews for their peers and teachers to see. The user interface is very friendly and kids and teachers alike will find this easy to navigate. Adding books to your shelf was relatively simple, yet the one thing I didn't like was that I could only add one book at a time. If you want to add multiple books from the same author, you have to repeatedly search on that authors name. I would love to see a "bulk load" type functionality in the future. 

 
I decided to play around with this a little more and I created a class with a student to see how the teacher and student could interact. I created a 1st grade student named Chase. Here is his account. I sent him a message.

I can also create challenges for him and see what he is reading. Here is a reading challenge I made for him to read 60 minutes per week.

A huge advantage of BiblioNasium is the customization. You can cater to different groups and even to different students within a group based on their individual needs.  The biggest disadvantage I see is that it took too long and too many steps to add books to my bookshelf.

The Verdict
 Personally, I will continue to use Goodreads. I feel I will be able to connect with more librarians and colleagues through this site. I am already familiar with the interface and how it works. However, if I was contemplating on switching, I would probably seriously consider Booklikes. I really like the unique built in blog component and I really enjoyed the layout. It had a similar feel to Goodreads in it's ability to create customized bookshelf and I feel I could really tweek this to my liking. For students, I think BiblioNasium is a great forum for teachers and students to connect, and I am seriously considering using this for my students who want to use it. The format is so easy to learn and navigate and I think the customization is hard to beat. The other online book communities would be too much for my students (K-4th grade) at this point in their academic careers, but BiblioNasium checks off almost all the boxes and would get them familiar with a online book community in general.

Podcasts

Podcasts are audio recordings that can be accessed digitally and listened to at anytime.  Some podcasts are produced within a series or they can be standalone files.  Listeners can subscribe to podcasts on subjects that interest them.   As educators, we can use podcasts as part of our instruction in a digitally changing environment.  It is imperative that we use different modalities of learning and podcasts are great tools for targeting kids who learn mainly through listening.  As a librarian, I have students who struggle with reading a book.  They visually can see it and can hold the book in their hands, but they have trouble with the comprehension.  Sometimes I will give them the audiobook and they can follow along in the book listening to the story.  As a result, their comprehension level goes up along with their confidence.  Podcasts can be used in the same way.

Podcasting has several advantages.  First, it takes learning outside of the classroom.  The days are over where all learning is done within the four walls of a school.  With podcasts, student can continue to learn when they are outside the traditional school day.  Second, computers and mobile devices can access a podcast at anytime, day or night.  This is great for the busy families who sometimes do not get a chance to start on their homework til later at night.  Third, podcasts can be listened to many times.  This will help the students that need to hear instructions more than once without having to constantly go to the instructor.  Lastly, podcasting will diminish the amount of time teachers spend printing and copying information for students.  They can listen to the instructions with the click of a mouse. 

So, how can we use podcasts in our classrooms?  Here are a few ideas:

Oral Presentation Skills

Some kids find it hard to get up in front of a group of people and speak.  Podcasts are a great way for students to practice presenting orally.  They can upload the podcast for their teachers and receive feedback before having to get up in front of people. 

Collaboration with other Students

Podcasts are a great way to connect with students/school in different parts of our country or world.  Set up a "Podcast Pal" program where kids can connect with each other.

Student Centered Content

Allow students to have the option of podcasting for assignments or projects.  Students not only will have to record a podcast, but also organize, prepare and write scripts.  This will help show higher level thinking skills to instructors. 

Here is a podcast I created to celebrate one my favorite poetry books with my students.