Return of the divet / 400,000
Alert LibraryThing-ers will notice the return of the divet ( 
) when adding books from libraries. Click it and get a lot more information about the book: ISBN, publication and physical description info, and sometimes even summaries and tables of contents. It's a small change, but actually a sign of the skeleton poking through—the database and parsing changes necessary for adding Italian libraries and bulk imports from Delicious Library and other desktop applications. (My efforts to get the desktop book cataloging people to discuss synching—or really to even talk to me—have failed. It's time for import filters.
Contest update: So far, only one person's sent in a book-pile photo (a good combo). Anyone else? I figured someone would want a free membership!
400,000. LibraryThing passed 400,000 books cataloged. At current pace we'll hit 1/2 million when I'm in Cambridge, MA. I think that calls for a Scorpion Bowl at the Hong Kong Restaurant, don't you?
) when adding books from libraries. Click it and get a lot more information about the book: ISBN, publication and physical description info, and sometimes even summaries and tables of contents. It's a small change, but actually a sign of the skeleton poking through—the database and parsing changes necessary for adding Italian libraries and bulk imports from Delicious Library and other desktop applications. (My efforts to get the desktop book cataloging people to discuss synching—or really to even talk to me—have failed. It's time for import filters.Contest update: So far, only one person's sent in a book-pile photo (a good combo). Anyone else? I figured someone would want a free membership!
400,000. LibraryThing passed 400,000 books cataloged. At current pace we'll hit 1/2 million when I'm in Cambridge, MA. I think that calls for a Scorpion Bowl at the Hong Kong Restaurant, don't you?
posted by Tim at 4:50 AM
24 Comments:
While I hope to see more photos ASAP, the trouble with a free membership isn't that it's not tempting enough, but that I'd feel criminal getting this (and all your work) for free.
My books don't seem interesting enough.... but I'll have a look, and maybe surprise myself.
Most of the site is down right now. Database issues. Apologies. (What a good time to photograph a stack of books! :) )
Back online. I didn't even need to use the backup I had (thankfully) made right before it went down...
Aaaargh! Not the Scorpion Bowl at the Hong Kong in Cambridge, Mass!
mmm, scorpion bowls.
Skip the Scorpion Bowl (I've never known anything good to come of Scorpion Bowls) and if you're in Cambridge on a Tues night, hit West Side Lounge for its Martini Sampler. yummy.
I've already paid for my membership, but I would love to give one as a gift. This site is so awesome I want to share the love.
Ha. I'm glad some Cantabrigians read this thing. Cheers to all.
I was a lifelong resident until moving to Portland, ME to do things like LibraryThing. I know the Hong Kong is a dive, but somehow it feels like Cambridge to me and the West Side Lounge like a spangly newcomer. As I've observed from my father on down, everyone idealizes the Harvard Square they first knew. I mean, I'm still getting over the loss of Elsie's, let alone the Tasty...
Dodi: Thanks. I'm going to be adding gift memberships soon. I need to build the functionality so I can give out the book-pile contest prizes.
Jason. Thanks for the suggestion. I can add the ISBN, and will right now.
To add more requires asking for a different, much more comprehensive set of data from Amazon. The benefit of more info is, I think, counteracted by the loss of speed this would entail.
Despite having been updating all day, I have only just received the divet and, at least in the Amazons, while it is nice, it means that the books found are no longer clickable, unless there is a cover image. Can we please have clickability back? Thanks.
Suddenly I can't get a link when the program pulls up books from Amazon.com. The book shows up, along with the divet -- but the divet shows me nothing, either. Help!
I'm having trouble with amazon books as well. The divet shows up nicely, but if there isn't cover art I can't add them since there isn't anything to click on.
And another bug... If you do click on the cover in the Amazons (or use the Amazon bookmarklet), it won't insert the name of the author (but will insert the other data).
Sorry for the bug. It should all be fixed now.
All fixed now. Many thanks.
Thanks for all your hard work. The divet doesn't seem to be working for me. I suspect that's because I use Opera for my web browsing and while I think its a wonderful browser, some thigs in life are just not designed for it. But, if there's anyway you could make it work for Opera, I'd be grateful.
I,m not much for Scorpion bowls, but a celebratory burger at Bartley's? thats another matter!
Selkie
I know what you mean about Harvard Square. It's now the home of the big banks (can you believe it? I actually miss Abercrombie and Fitch...at least it had more interest than a row of Xitizens' Bank ATMs that charge 2 bucks to withdraw from them). Johnny's Luncheonette...gone. But Swiss Alps has a new incarnation where Chili's used to be. Mmmm..spaetzle. And hey, West Side Lounge has been there for five years. That counts as long-standing these days! (And it has these lovely rosemary fries...)
Aunt_Dodi's pile of books photo is mint! I even have one of the books on the stack. So far, the winner is that photographer who is first in line.
I know it's a small stack, but you didn't like my entry?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tale_swapper/21355316/
No, I love the "weighing" pile! Actually a whole bunch of people have now sent in pictures. I'll blog about them soon.
Tim
Meh, scorpion bowls will knock you down right enough. *grin* I'm more likely to end up in Club Passim or the Garage (Mmm. Pandemonium....)
There are a quite a few stacks over on Flickr, looks like this meme has really taken off:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/librarything/
the triangle thingy isn't working for me, either; i'm also using Opera (8.5/WinXP)
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