Down at 11:00 EST
I have to take LibraryThing down tonight at 11:00 EST (8:00 PST). I’m swapping in a new server, and there’s just no way to do that “on the fly.” I don’t want to over-promise, but I think it will help....
View ArticleIroning out the kinks
Update: By twiddling something, LibraryThing helper database guy, Austin Swinney (profile), appears to have fixed the character issue. (The sort order is still Swedish—literally—but that’s close to...
View ArticleSome books lost; apology and next steps
UPDATE: Many books found, but not all. Crash problem solved. See end of this post. If you’ve been following the blog, you know that LibraryThing recently moved to a new, much better server. This move...
View ArticleHelp for orphaned covers and maybe tags
Crash update. Thank you again for all the support you’ve given LibraryThing. I do appreciate it. I am still working through the hundreds of blog posts, profile comments and personal emails I received....
View ArticleLCCN Numbers now parsed
Before the crash I did complete one new feature, the accurate parsing of Library of Congress Catalog numbers. LCCNs are slippery things, without a fixed number of digits or a single internal...
View ArticleTwo new features: Location search and archiving comments
Location search. The search page now allows you to search the locations users have entered on their profiles. As with everything else, providing your location is totally voluntary, but many users have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New mini-feature: Show all catalog pages
Users with large libraries rejoice! I added a link to show all the “pages” in your catalog. Here are the pictures. Click “all” and get. Yeah, it’s a small feature. I’m still spending much of my time on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Duplicate book warning / scheduled downtime 2am EST
Duplicate book warning. I’ve added a feature to the Add Books tab that flags when you add a book already in your collection. Since “duplicate” is such a slippery concept, it works exclusively by ISBN....
View ArticleClik here to view.
New feature: Improved tag editing
Entering tags when you use the Add Books screen has always bothered me. I wanted a one-step process, but that meant entering tags at the same time as you entered search terms. If you didn’t enter tags...
View ArticleWork disambiguation and the “Ship of Theseus”
This blog post is long, and involves both showy mythological allusions and inside-baseball discussions of database structures. In brief, you’ll be seeing some new features, but you may also catch some...
View ArticleTag expansion delay / 2am downtime
UPDATE: (1) Work-logic is still coming. In that connection, you will see incorrect “shared” numbers if you look at your catalog early this morning. It’s still calculating the “initial” guesses. I had...
View ArticleUpgrade update
My promised upgrade is still in the works, and growing in scope by the minute. It will include: A work structure, with work disambiguation Better-looking book pages (social info, book info, editing),...
View ArticleBeta/unofficial features launch
Update: I’m going to give this another day of “beta.” I updated the About Works and Books page. I’m going to work on making the “combine” feature less cluttered, and the “separate” feature more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LibraryThing leaps forward: Everyone a librarian
UPDATE: I changed the way I load covers. Is anyone still getting a “stack” error? In the last three days I’ve added a slew of new features, and a new structure to support future improvements: “Works” :...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Twas the night before LibraryThing
I wanted to take a second to highlight an interesting use of LibraryThing. LibraryThing user _Celeste_ collects editions of the Clement Clarke Moore‘s “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” better known as “The...
View Article2.5 Million tags!
LibraryThing just hit 1.8 million books and 2.5 million tags. Since we’re going to hit 2 million books soon, I’ll talk about the tags today. As the tags accumulate, they are also generating a lot more...
View ArticleDowntime 2:30am EST / 11:30pm PST
LibraryThing will go down at 2:30am EST / 11:30pm PST / 7:30 GMT for a major swap. The “big new server” I got some months ago has proved very fast, but also glitchy. My database guy thinks it was some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Users with your books” is better
Update: The server migration appears to have gone off without a hitch—anyway, LT’s had of the usual random, corrupting crashes since the changeover. I am a little behind on email, but will be—amazing...
View Article