Comments on: Secret Social Networking

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:47:40 +0000

We did put date due stickers with room for patrons to write in reviews but sadly hardly anyone did. Maybe because there was only room for a sentence. I usually encourage patrons to try Goodreads, if for nothing other than to keep track of what they have already read. From there they can discover the reviews and the give-aways (my favorite part.)

By: alison

alison — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:29:13 +0000

I agree Brian,
I’m promoting a library staff LibraryThing so customers can see what it’s all about – and use it.
Our Spydus catalogue has a review (more a comment) function, but I’d like to get the upgrade and add LibraryThing for Libraries to give that rich added dimension to each entry.

re opting in if they want to – surely they’ve chosen to leave their slip in the book? who knows?

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:13:08 +0000

I was shocked to see that the patron’s name was printed on the receipt (and interested to see that it was King County Library System, our neighbor to the south). We only print the patron’s barcode, with the last four digits shown as “X”

I always toss out the receipts I find in books – I chalk it up to stuffing the receipt into the book at checkout, and forgetting about it when the book gets turned in. I suppose it could be interesting to do a survey of sorts to look at what books are checked out together…

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:56:07 +0000

@Heather: I was surprised to see that, too – we only print the patron’s barcode, which is a little more secure.

@Pat: That’s why I kind of like referring patrons to an online tool – they can opt-in if they want to, and only share as much information as they’re comfortable with. None at all and just look at other peoples’ suggestions, or share what they like.

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:52:08 +0000

This is a great idea assuming everything would be anonymous. Having another reader recommend a title and then being able to follow this up with a discussion would be a “novel” concept.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:56:04 +0000

Is it a wise idea to leave patron’s names on receipts linking them to the items they checked out? This would seem like a violation of privacy if their name is attached to a receipt showing they checked out specific titles. Perhaps the titles were not listed on the receipt but then that would lead to even more difficulty.