I ran across the new Web 2.0 app, Shelfari recently through TechnoMojo and Digg. The digg article sold Shelfari as being YouTube for books, but I think this is an inaccurate description. Shelfari is really more like last.fm (my last.fm profile) or mog.com for books, in that it allows you to display your library of books in a fancy way to the world at large and use your own library to find other users who have the same books that you do. The idea being that you will find new books enjoyed by people who like the same books that you do.

So far I like it. Some of the features that are associated with many Web 2.0 sites--tagging*, badges, RSS--are missing, but I have no doubt that some will be added as demand for them is expressed. The feature I would love to see the most is something similar to the way del.icio.us allows you to see who else has marked a page, the ability to see who else has a certain book in their library. The current system only shows you a list of the users who have the most books similar to you. Also, the ability to organize the information in albums or lists, ala flickr, would also be grand, e.g. "Next Reads" or "Favorite Books From Childhood That Can Still Capture My Attention".

The only problem so far is the same problem that exists with all library applications that I have tried to use: manual entry of the data, a pain in the butt if you have a large library. But, I think Shelfari uses amazon.com's API to power its search and cover image retrieval system, so the process is as painless as it can be under the circumstances. There is a wonderful looking program out there called Delicious Library that lets the user use their web cam to scan the bar codes on the back of books, cds, and dvds. The program then searches amazon.com, imdb.com, allmusic.com to find the appropriate cover image and library information. But, the program is Mac only, so us PC folks are S.O.L. I suppose. Curse you Mac people and your...elegant solutions.

I have entered a few books on my profile, just a small selection of books that I own and have read. I will start adding more stuff next week sometime. My profile is linked below.

http://shelfari.com/mjasonprickett

*D'oh! I just noticed that you can, in fact, tag books.