Looking for a good read?

Take a look at Goodreads.

Launched in December 2006, Goodreads is a social network for book lovers, and has become immensely popular over the past year. Goodreads 3.2 million members have added more than 84,000,000 books to their shelves. Goodreads includes recommendations, and lets you keep track of books you’ve read, and books you want to read.

Goodread’s mission “is to get people excited about reading. Along the way, we plan to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world.”

I’ve been a Goodreads member since January. At the time, I was looking for a place to keep track of my books, as part of my goal to read more in 2010. As a new owner of a Sony Touch ebook reader, I found the Goodreads site had a large number of ebook editions for titles that I could add to my virtual bookshelf.

Numerous authors have Facebook-eque fan pages on Goodreads, and you can follow them as you would on other social networks. If you are interested in a particular genre, you can join Goodreads Groups. Setting your location to Canada in your profile also filters Canadian groups on your group page.

Members who have 50+ books on their shelves can apply for Goodreads Librarian status. Goodreads librarians have the ability to edit book and author data, add book covers, and combine different editions of books. Restricting membership to librarian status helps to keep the Goodreads’ catalogue tidy. Get the low-down on being a Goodreads Librarian here.

Goodreads also has Facebook and Twitter integration, that allows you to share your updates with friends on those social networks. The Goodreads iPhone app also synchs up with my online account, so I can access it on the go. If you’re a blogger, you can also add a widget or Goodreads shelf badge to your site, to show off what you are reading.

Has Goodreads contributed to my goal to read more in 2010? Absolutely!

Join me there!

Library Technicians in Canada group on Facebook

Are you new to Facebook?  Looking to network with library technicians across Canada?

The Library Technicians in Canada group on Facebook provides a great opportunity to meet others and keep in touch. The group is open to all library technicians across Canada.  Recent graduates or soon to be graduates of a Library & Information Techniques Program are welcome to join.  The group has 460+ members and growing! When you join, be sure to introduce yourself on the wall.

What Matters Now

Looking for a good read over the holidays?  Take a look at Mashable’s 10 must-read ebooks for social media lovers.

I’ve just finished reading What Matters Now.  #10 on the list, it’s a series of micro-essays from Seth Godin and 70 other “big-thinkers”.

If you read one last ebook in 2009, this should be it.  Thought-provoking. Inspiring.

Get it.

new Facebook blog for SLA-IT

The Blogging Section of the Special Libraries Asociation, Information Technology Division has a new presence on Facebook which uses the new Blog Networks feature.

Read more about it here and join here.

Twitter tools round-up

I blog quite a bit about Twitter. It’s one of my favourite microblogging tools. I use Twitter to keep up with news, friends, and other bloggers. As a Twitterite, I’m always exploring new ways to get the most out of Twitter. Here’s a round-up of some interesting Twitter tools and articles I’ve come across recently.

Tweetburner
Use this tool to keep track of what happens to the links in tweets shared by you, your friends and other Twitterers. Includes Twurl This, a bookmarklet tool that lets you easily shorten URLs for sharing on Twitter. Read the Tweetburner blog to learn more about upcoming features.

quotably
A useful tool for following conversations by Twitter username. The tool only works for Twitter users with public profiles, but it helps you to follow the threaded conversation between users. Read more about it here.

TweetStats: Graphing Your Stats
Create a graph of your Twitter statistics including:
*Tweets per hour
*Tweets per month
*Tweet timeline

twhirl
A desktop Twitter client, based on the Adobe AIR platform. It runs on both Windows and Mac and allows you to:
* connect to multiple Twitter accounts
* get notifications on new tweets
* shorten long URLs (helpful for keeping those tweets at 140 characters or less)
* cross-post updates to Pownce and Jaiku
* search tweets
* filter Twitter posts by timeline

TinyURL Plug-in for bloggers
Use this neat plug-in to allow blog visitors to easily Twitter and share your blog posts.

Fun Hack: Retweet Your Favorites on Twitter
A great post on how to use Yahoo Pipes and Twitterfeed to re-tweet your favourite posts to Twitter.

Looking to have more fun with Twitter? Read 5 ways to have fun with Twitter when you’re bored. You’ll learn how to calculate your Twitter score and how to typecast yourself and your friends (are you a: talker, listener, or hub?)

Is Twitter’s time at hand? Facebook has to hope it’s just a fad. Watch the Twitter vs Facebook video making the rounds of the interwebs and have your say. I vote yes for Twitter.

~ Related Posts ~

why you should embrace Twitter
Twitter in plain english
TwitterThreads
Twitter tools courtesy of CommandN