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Taking advantage of open source software

Tim Spalding cocks his head a bit as he says it to emphasize the point: "LibraryThing.com is social software." However we categorize it, Spalding's baby has become a darling to librarians, and as we sat chatting over lunch in spring 2006, the web application that had begun life just 10 months earlier was to catalog its 3-millionth book.

LibraryThing is no library-Spalding's critics are quick to remind him of that-but it does open some of the activities of librarianship-the cataloging and organization of books-to a world of bibliophiles eager to partake. Librarians and patrons alike cannot help but compare LibraryThing to their own libraries' catalogs and wonder howthis free software, built (well, crafted) in less than a year by a solo developer who didn't know he was creating a Web 2.0 start-up, could deliver so many features that we've wanted in our "real" libraries.

Catalogs, in libraries anyway, are inventories. Their design and features often reflect the interests and needs of those in...

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