Online Book Communities

I am new to Online book communities.  Before this assignment, I had only heard of Goodreads. Basically, these sites are places where you can organize your reading material.  Here's a summary of what I found at each of these sites...

Goodreads:

This site seemed easy to use.  I was able to choose books and rate them.  I was also able to create several shelves including: favorites, currently reading, read, and a to-read.  I like how I am able to keep track of my books and look through my shelves.  It also lets you review books and post other comments.  You can also invite friends to check out your site.  I think students would enjoy using Goodreads to keep track of their own books.  I don't think that they'll have a problem figuring out how to use it.

Shelfari:

I liked using Shelfari.  I thought it was also easy to use and I like how it displays the books on a shelf.  You can easily click on your different shelves to see your books.  This site also lists your favorites, currently reading, plan to read, and read books, as well as which books you own or are on your wishlist.  You can check out reviews too.  It also shows you in parenthesis the number of books you've got in each shelf.  I was able to import books through my Amazon account as well.  I think students may like this site because of its appearance.  It has a big book shelf that displays your books.

LibraryThing:

This site was OK but I have to admit a little bit difficult for me to use.  Like the other sites, it has places for favorites, read, to read, reading, own, and wishlist.  It also has recommended books which is nice.  You're also able to tag books, rate them, and review them.  It lets you engage with others through groups or talk forums.  It seems to have more tabs than the other sites that I visited.  Maybe that's why I found it a little bit more complicated to use.  I'm not sure that students would like using this site when comparing it with the others.

Booklikes:

Like the other sites, this one also has shelves for books read, reading, favorites, own, wishlist, and reviewed.  It also has a shelf called "Private," which is something I didn't see on the other sites.   I noticed that it gives you options to either blog, organize your shelf, or set up a timeline for your books. It was difficult for me to figure out how to add books to this site.  It took several tries but once I got it, it was easy to do.  I like the appearance of this site.  I also like the reading challenge which lets you know how far along you are in reaching your reading goal.  I think kids would like this site as well.  They'd like to keep track of their reading goals.  As far as appearance, this site was pleasing to eye.

Biblionasium:

This site is for kids, parents, and educators.  I created an educator account and noticed that I can set up a class, send messages, run reports, set goals, send letters to parents, and use other resources that the program offers.  The tabs on the left allow you to create your own bookshelf, create groups and challenges, and create reports.  It also has a tab for suggested readings which I liked.  I'm not sure how different the students' or parents' pages looks like...I'm wondering, though.  I'm not sure exactly how I might use this site, but I plan to look at it more closely.

If I were to choose right now, I would probably have to go for either Shelfari or Booklikes. I liked both of these sites the most.  I liked their appearance and they were fairly easy to use.  All of the sites have advantages and disadvantages in their use.   Most have the same type of features, though, as far as the shelves that are available to set up. I think the one you choose will just depend on your own style.

Joining an Online Book Community would be beneficial for students as well.  They would be able to keep track of their reading material throughout the school year.  (Although, since most of our students participate in AR Reading, they keep track of books read/tested through the AR Book Shelf.)  If I were to do this in the library as an assignment, I would introduce students to these sites and most likely recommend Shelfari and/or Booklikes to them.