ONLINE BOOK COMMUNITIES

It takes a book community to read and review a book.

New assignment: to know and work with some online book communities.

My professor asked us to use SKITCH to make snapshots of my profile in this websites.

I tried, it was pretty easy (once I knew how to do it...), in the past I have been using another program called Gyazo, and basically these two applications have the same purpose... make snapshots of websites screens, publications and everything that you need a picture to save and send to other people.

I also have to was my experience with each site I visited.

GOOD READS

Works with amazon.com if you want to the books you want to read.

The selection process was easy.

Displays the covers of the books that appears in your search (and sometimes extra selections).

The site has some pre-made shelves, but you can create and name yours (pretty easy process).

Has tools like your information about your books, the status of your books (what you are reading, what do you want to read).

Very easy to navigate.

The display of your books is by pages, so, if you have a lot of books, it will take several pages to check the book you want to work with.

SHELFARI

By amazon.com.

Has a very good catalog of books (of course, it works with  amazon.com), and you can buy the too.

You can make your own shelves, the adding process is easy and it show which books are added to the shelve (when you go back to your books you can look at your collection).

Your books can be display by titles and by covers (which I like best, since I am a very visual person).

It has a place where you can see what are you reading, plan to read, make groups, what are your reading goals, reviews and a section for best of.

When you are adding your books you have the option to show it in Facebook.

BOOKLIKES

This site is a blog platform for Book Lovers, so, the dynamic of this site is more like a blog.

In the catalog you have the option of looking for your books according to your favorites genres.

You can develop your own shelves and label them.

In the searching it doesn't have that much variety like other sites (but surprisingly, looking for some books for my shelves I found them in German and Spanish versions, so I assumed that this site is popular in other countries).

When you look for books, the websites shows the covers and titles.

You can start and/or participate in groups, discussions, make new friendships, participate in book clubs and be invite to events.

Very easy to navigate and to work with, I like it.

LIBRARY THING

I was not very fond of the layout in this site.

But like other sites, it show the books you are looking for by title and cover.

You can create your shelves, and/or work with the ones that are there already.

The site displays your books, your book data and different tags about books.

It was a little harder to work with this site, comparing with the other ones.

BIBLIONASIUM

by American Association of School Librarians.

A reading tool for Librarians! (and teachers and parents).

This site is more oriented to develop the love for reading in  children and young adults.

I like the security settings, I know that all sites have security settings, but this one, since children are going to be involved is important to have extra care.

Any student, to be able to have an account and work with this site, must have the permission of the parents and their e-mails to make sure that the young member's information is secured.

There are different accounts, so you can work according to your needs (as parent, educator, librarian).

I create an account as Educator in the Kindergarten level.

I can create groups and reading list by grade, age, and reading level, besides I can create usernames and passwords for my students (with the option that the computer can do that for me).

The only  problem I see in the website is that the selection process is a little slower, since you have to select the book and then select the group (it takes more time, but it's worth it because you can make sure that you can add a book to the right group(s).

The display is nice, very kid (and teachers who teach K) friendly! You can see your selections in a simulated library bookcase.

One think I did not like is that it doesn't show (or at least I haven't found it) the place where it says how many books you have in a group, so I have to be manually counting my books in the shelf.

Which website is better? well it depends on the user. 

For some people the blog format suits them better and for other the regular sites.

But definitely I am going to recommend Biblionasium to my School Librarian (but I am sure she knows about it) and to teachers, so we can use it in the classroom.