*I am forwarding this question from a potential new member. Please respond to her directly, as she is not yet a member of the listserve.*
I am the volunteer librarian for our synagogue's library, and I have a question for members of the list regarding a library database program. For the past 10 years or so, our library has used a program called ReaderWare to catalog our books and keep track of book circulation. The program resides on the hard drive of the computer, so if the hard drive fails, the data is very difficult to recover, unless there is an external back-up. Unfortunately, the hard drive of the library computer failed at the beginning of this month, and we are in the process of trying to find out whether we can recover the data. If we can recover the data, then we'll be in fairly good shape, but if we can't, then we will have to input all of the information again (we do have hard copies of the accession records plus the old card catalog), since there is no external back-up. I would now like to use LibraryThing (www.librarything.com) for our library database program. LibraryThing keeps the data on all of the libraries/book collections from its users on its own servers, in the "cloud" (not on the library's own hard drive). Using this program will enable all members of the congregation to see what's in the library via the Internet--something that can't be done with ReaderWare. I would very much appreciate knowing from those who use LibraryThing for their congregational libraries either as the librarian or as a congregant how it works for you and what suggestions you might have for its use in a synagogue library. I have already looked on the Association of Jewish Libraries' website for reviews of LibraryThing, so right now I'm looking for additional user reports that can help me. Thank you! Martha Katz-Hyman mbkatzhy...@juno.com Rodef Sholom Temple Sisterhood Hampton, VA -- Jackie Ben-Efraim *"Although the books had changed, I the reader had not." **Micha Yosef Berdichevsky 1865-1921* Special Collections Librarian Ostrow Library American Jewish University 15600 Mulholland Drive Bel Air, CA 90077
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