I was introduced to libib back in December and I love it! Libib is a website and an app - it's a way of managing your libraries, whether its movies, books, games etc. I use it for my books, I've also created a separate one for review books! It's a bit like goodreads but it's more personal and I feel like it's easier to manage your personal library. The app has it's limitations, but it's the best way of adding physical books to your e-brary (see what I did there?).
I don't know how old libib is, but some books are not added and some are added with the wrong data (some of it you can easily correct, while you have to contact them to change other things) - You can also add new editions if yours doesn't show up - it's quite easy actually.
What I probably love the most about libib is, that I can see the status of my books very clearly:
My current 'statuses'
It's in the top so you can easily see how many TBR books you have on your shelves and how many you've already read. If you've marked books as 'abandoned' it will also show up on the status bar. There are 4 statuses in all; not begun, in progress, completed and abandoned. You can also add dates to the statuses.
Libib also allows you to have multiple statuses on a book; if you've read it 3 times you can see that you've read it 3 times and when you've read it - because those statuses are separate! This is something goodreads does not allow you to do
On goodreads I don't really know how to find my notes and stuff easily, as far as I know you have to find your review, then 'edit' and scroll until you find them. That is something I like about libib; finding notes is easy - you literally just have to move the curser over the book's 'page'. You can also add tags (a feature I would love goodreads had instead of only having groups), group books together, review them easily on the page and you can edit them without being a 'librarian'. As you can see you can also easily edit in the information - if you want to report a mistake or add some information you just have to click on the flag (bottom-right corner)
When you hold the curser over a book 'page'
On the website you can also see your stats; how many books you've read per year, the average rating per year, how many books you've reviewed (if you've added a review that is), how many books with notes and books added per year. I absolutely LOVE this feature!
Other fun features
- You can search books by ratings! If you want to see all the books you've given 3 stars you just press 3 in the search box!
- Ratings include half stars (e.g. 2.5 and 4.5)
- You can search for tags and for notes and other things! (just press the little question mark beside the search box to get a full list
- You can find books by letter: looking for The Fault in Our Stars? Just press F
- You can add multiple libraries
- You can see your total number of books and whether that number is growing or falling
- You can add multiple statuses - which I've mentioned before but I think this is something we've all been missing to I'll tell you again
I have to warn you though; it takes time adding your entire library, editing the information, making sure it's the right edition and then marking books as completed, not begun and so on. I began before New Years and I'm not done yet...
Another thing; I still prefer goodreads for 'everyday' use. I only use libib for my review books and my personal library. Goodreads is my way of keeping track of every book I read - whether it be my own, review or borrowed.
Have any questions? Just ask!
