Over the summer I signed up for both Shelfari and LibraryThing. On June 10th, I created my accounts and spent about 5 minutes on each site, after which I decided to use Shelfari. I’m not sure what exactly made me choose Shelfari over LibraryThing. What I remember is being a bit overwhelmed by LibraryThing, and thinking Shelfari was easy to use and had everything I needed at the moment. I’ve been using Shelfari ever since, logging in about once a week to add new books and catch up with friends.

After spending a bit more time examining LibraryThing, I found that my first impressions were mostly right … but there is more to LibraryThing than what I saw at first glance.

LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing, even though it’s not as intuitive and user friendly as Shelfari. It has a ton of options, which can be good and bad, depending on what you’re planning to use the site for.

I love the edit book option, because it allows me to add as much or as little detail about each book as I want to. For instance, I can add the exact reading dates, or the date I acquired the book, I can add a summary, comments, a review — you name it. And of course, any librarian will love the cataloging options that are available.

I also really like the Local Events link on the home page and the Early Reviewers section where you can score advance copies of books (how cool is that!).

What I found frustrating is the collections manager; to be honest, I still haven’t figured out how to add the books to currently reading, to read, favorites, and the other collections. I’m trying not to search the forums for this info, because there has to be a way for me to figure this out on my own, but sadly I still haven’t found it (maybe this comes with the paid option? I don’t know). I also can’t figure out how to add friends or contacts, or even if that’s possible.

This is what I mean when I say LibraryThing is not as intuitive; I should be able to figure these things about without having to Google them.

Shelfari

Shelfari on the other hand is much more simplistic; I almost want to call it the dummy version of LibraryThing. I can see more library users, rather than librarians or serious bibliophiles liking it, especially teens (although I have made a couple of friends that are librarians).

Instead of a collection, you add your books to a shelf, and you can organize your books by currently reading, plan to read, read, favorites, books you own and books on your wish list. Of course this option is available on LibraryThing, but on Shelfari it is just so easy to use.

I also think Shelfari is much more visual, there are more images being utilized and the text is much larger, which makes the site more user friendly. I don’t feel lost in Shelfari because it is more limited; there are only so many things you can do and you get a sense of that as soon as you start exploring your account.

With LibraryThing I get the feeling that the options are unlimited, that there’s so much more you can do, which as I mentioned before, can be both good and bad.

Shelfari vs. LibraryThing: Which Social Networking Book Site is Better?

I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, simply that each has something different to offer.

Here are a few closing comments:

• Shelfari uses ads; although they’re not overly intrusive and they are book related, they’re there. LibraryThing seems to be entirely ad free, which is a plus.
• LibraryThing has a ton of options and I’m positive that I could spend my entire day on the site without getting bored for a minute. However, it can be a bit frustrating and you might have to spend more time figuring out how things work. Shelfari is simple, really easy to use, but has less options.
• You will get emails from Shelfari with reminders and notifications, probably to make sure you don’t forget to use it on a regular basis. You don’t need an email address to sign up for LibraryThing.

The choice is yours — sign up for both Shelfari & LibraryThing and see which one you like more. Just make sure to give both a fair chance.

I’ll definitely use LibraryThing more often, now that I know more about it. Although I’m guessing Shelfari will remain my favorite social networking book site.

Let’s Be Friends!

• My Shelfari Profile: http://www.shelfari.com/thehiddenrock
• My LibraryThing Profile: http://www.librarything.com/profile/kasia0303

 

|   originally posted on my classes.tametheweb.com blog   |