 | |
Type of site | Catalog and community |
|---|---|
| Owner | |
| Created by | Tim Spalding |
| URL | www |
| Registration | Free |
| Launched | August 29, 2005 |
| Current status | Active |
LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers.
Based in Portland, Maine,[1] LibraryThing was developed by Tim Spalding and went live on August 29, 2005, on a freemium subscriber business model, because "it was important to have customers, not an 'audience' we sell to advertisers." They focused instead on making a series of products for academic libraries. Motivated by the cataloguing opportunities and financial challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the service went "free to all" on March 8, 2020, while maintaining a promise never to use advertising on registered users.[2] As of February 2021,[update] it has 2,600,000 users and more than 155 million books catalogued,[3] drawing data from Amazon and from thousands of libraries that use the Z39.50 cataloguing protocol.
- ^ "LibraryThing – Send us money".
- ^ "LibraryThing Is Now Free to All « The LibraryThing Blog". blog.librarything.com. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Zeitgeist Overview". LibraryThing. Retrieved February 8, 2021.