Published: December 18, 2008 05:45 pm      

Library projects win state awards

ASHEBORO — Two new services offered by the Randolph County Public Library have won awards from the N.C. Library Directors Association (NCPLDA).

The library’s pioneering implementation of LibraryThing for Libraries, which places book recommendations and reader reviews in the library’s catalog, won the Outstanding Library Service Innovation Award, medium-sized libraries (budgets $1 million to $2.9 million), and the library’s electronic newsletter/e-mail alert service received the Outstanding Library Promotional Project Award, medium-sized libraries.

The e-newsletter, a formatted version of the library’s print newsletter with added links to research databases and other library resources, is distributed monthly. E-mail alerts are generated as needed to promote upcoming events.

The electronic news service now reaches 459 subscribers. Anyone can sign up for the e-mails at www.randolphlibrary.org.

LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL) harnesses the power of the social networking site LibraryThing.com’s 564,000-plus members cataloging, describing and recommending over 33 million books. When a reader searches for a book in the local library’s catalog, LTFL displays a list of similar books that can be found in the library’s collection.

It also offers tags, or words describing the book, that link to other books in the library’s collection described the same way. Reader reviews have recently been added, along with the capability for readers to submit their own reviews.

The Randolph County Public Library was the seventh in the nation and the first in North Carolina to offer LTFL for its patrons. The NCPLDA is the professional association for the state’s 75 public library system directors. Award recipients were recognized in Greensboro on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5.