Online Book Communities

     As I explored several online book communities, I realized that at one time I myself shared what I was reading on Shelfari.  Therefore I already had a bias opinion of which would be the best option for teacher/student/parent interaction.  I already felt that Shelfari was pretty simple to use, but as I evaluated the other options, the top one for education was yet to come.     

     Let's start out with Shelfari.  Well, as you can see from my screenshot, it is easy to navigate and add books to the shelves.   It keeps count of how many books you have on your shelf and one can also rate the books by adding stars. I felt that using the search bar was exceptional for locating books to put on the shelves.  There is a drop bar that allows you to arrange books  by author, title, or date.  I was surprised that Shelfari didn't allow you to shelve books based on genre or specific categories for book selections.  It also has the capability to change the way the shelves are arranged. A major issue that I encountered was uploading my profile picture.  I tried many times and no such luck.  I also didn't appreciate unblocking  my pop ups to allow Shelfari to search through my Facebook for friends or family members using this book community.  Overall, I'll give it a 4 out of 5 for user friendly.  It is student safe and only shows what you have on your shelf.

     I've always used Goodreads for book reviews.  I wasn't aware that I could shelve books that I was interested in or read.  Goodreads has tabs on top of shelf showing recommendations, friends, My Books, and areas to Explore.  It is easy to navigate and add books to your shelf.  One different option that Goodreads offers is breaking down your shelves by genres or authors, etc. that will help you and others identify the books on your shelf.  Goodreads is like Shelfari, it keeps count of total books in your bookshelves and total in each category you created.  Once again, I think that this online book community is student/parent/teacher friendly, but not the winner.

    LibraryThing is easy to manage for any level of online knowledge.  It is at the level of Shelfari.  I enjoyed the easy navigation and adding of books.  If you are unable to find a book, with available options to search in, you may import a book into your shelf.  The books on your shelves may be displayed by showing the cover or listing the books.  There is an edit sort bar to sort books by title, author, publication date, language, Dewey, ISBN, and etc.  LibraryThing gives more sorting options compared to Shelfari and goodreads.  LibraryThing has a Groups tab on top and it gives you an option to start your own group.  This would be perfect for parent/teacher/student book talks, etc.  Hands down this was one of my favorites, and it may be used with all grade levels, especially middle school and high school students.

     I did not like Booklikes.  Booklikes is at the bottom of the list for user friendly and student engaging. This online book community is more like a blog than a bookshelf.  You are adding titles as you read and give a quick synopsis of what you have read.   Books were difficult to add, so therefore it took two different entries to enter titles of books.  I didn't like the advertisements on the top of the blog.  Very distracting!!  Sorry, but TWO big Thumbs down on this community.

    We have finally reached the WINNER!!! Biblionasium is the best option for student/teacher/parent interactions about books.  It is a little bit time consuming in adding books, but it allows you to enter reading level, which group, and mark as favorite/recommended/required reading.  One is to note, that teachers aren't adding 25 selections at one time, so therefore it won't take as long as the first time one is being set.  This online book community is also safe for children, where one will not have the adult content on page such as Booklikes.  Biblionasium includes book trailers, option to read a few book pages, or author interviews.   This community allows you to manage many groups and usernames are given to protect student's identity.  As far as I can see, Biblionasium is perfect for student engagement.

     In closing, the different online book communities that I explored are all fair use based on once taste.  Some were a lot simpler to use that others and others were just not quite student friendly.  If I had to order these communities from student friendly to horrible they would be as follows:

Biblionasium

LibraryThing

Shelfari

goodreads and ............

Booklikes.

If an online book community is going to be used for student/teacher/parent interaction, then Biblionasium is the one to go to.  The others are open to the world, even though you may add a new group, students may be exposed to inappropriate content.