Catalog Class 5: Social Features

Our catalog is a social space! In this Catalog Class, we’ll talk about the many ways you can connect with a community of library lovers all over the country through our catalog.

Review previous Catalog Classes below:

Our catalog lets you add comments, age recommendations, summaries, and other content to items in the catalog. This is a great way to leave reviews, thoughts on the item, and more. Check out the video below for instructions on contributing your own content.

Adding Tags

Tags are descriptive labels or keywords that you and other library members attach to a title. A tag can be a single word or a phrase. Tags help other members to find what they’re looking for and enable you to organize your shelves in a meaningful way.

You can add four types of tags:

Genre tags tell others what type of work this is, such as mystery, anime, or self-help.
Tone tags might include gloomy, exciting, or straightforward.
Theme tags describe topics or specific subjects, such as coming of age or baking the perfect cookie.
Personal tags are for your private notes. Words you enter in this field are not visible to other library users, but you can still use them to filter your shelves. For example, you may want to use this to tag books read in summer 2018.

Adding a Video

One of the neat things the new catalog lets you do is embed videos on title details pages. This means that you can share embeddable videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or other places that offer an embeddable video for sharing.

There are a number of ways this might be useful. You might share book or film trailers, interviews with authors, news stories, and more.

Creating Lists

There are two types of lists...

If You Liked...

Inspired by a particular title (book, movie, etc.)
For members looking for a similar experience (readalike)
Focus on unexpected linkages! For example, people might be interested in a book list about Home Cooking with eBooks and Downloadable eMagazines, Decodable Books for beginning readers, or Essays by Millennial writers.

Guides and Recommendations

Inspired by a particular topic
For members looking for a particular theme or genre
Be specific and unique!

When creating a list, choose topics or genres that interest you. Consider factors that may appeal to others, such as character, story, setting, and language. Also, try to find titles that have images in the catalog to make your list more attractive. Finally, don’t limit yourself to topics and genres. Be creative! Quirky lists can be fun and popular.

Need help?

Refer to our Help With the New Library Catalog guide or contact Ask Us to receive personalized assistance.