Books (etc) We Like has a blog widget for books. This one differs from the LibraryThing blog widget in being a list of recommended books, not a list of every book in your library. Every book purchased through Books (etc) We Like contributes donations to support a list of independent/alternative media organizations. You can still buy books from Amazon, Abe Books, Booksense, Powell’s or other participating etailers; you just start your purchases at Books (etc) We Like.

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After writing the post about RSS, Libraries and Good Reading Lists, I was starting to wonder what kind of technology might exist out there to allow me to have my own reading list feed on my own blog. Then last night, I just learned of a personal book collection cataloging site called LibraryThing. It allows you to tag your books, like you can tag your Del.icio.us bookmarks. You can share your catalog or keep it private. You can even make a blog widget that displays your reading list and book reviews on your own blog. Last night, I started adding my books. I’ve added 89 so far. What a good idea. It does for books what Del.icio.us does for websites. I’m also impressed by the one-step sign-up/sign-in feature. That’s the very first time that I can recall that I’ve signed up for any online service or community membership so easily.

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Mark Bernstein had an interesting point to make about RSS and libraries. “RSS is primarily a method for spreading the word about changes, sharing new developments among people who want to be notified,” he wrote. “This seems at cross purposes to the needs of libraries, since libraries collect and preserve. Libraries want, above all, a stable literature; RSS wants to tell you the news and then vanish.” He goes on to note that libraries need RSS, because they need news about the world of writing. This brings him to the value of reading lists, such as those bloggers could feature on their blogs. He has an example of a reading list on his own blog. I like the idea. I think bloggers’ reading lists could easily be aggregated and weighted in a way similar to Technorati’s tag cloud. Librarians could use this kind of reading list index as a way to, as he says, go beyond reinforcing best-sellers.