Delicious Library
From LIS 460 Summer 2007
Contents |
What is Delicious Library?
According to their website, Delicious Library is an application that allows you to “catalog, browse, and share all your books, movies, music, and video games.” With the use of an iSight or other wireless scanning equipment, you can build your library by simply scanning the barcode on the back of the media. The program uses the barcode information to query a database (amazon.com) and retrieve the cover art and lots of other information. Items can also be entered by typing in the ISBN or title. After entering your items, you can group them into different collections. The end result is an attractive electronic display of your library, along with an abundance of information about each item. Some of the information in a book record includes: title, publisher, genre, number of pages, price, and a summary. Albums include the same type of basic information as well as track names. Movies also include rating information and a list of actors/actresses.
One of the handy features of this application is the ability to sync your library to your iPod, so you have a portable record of what’s in your collection. Delicious Library can also track whether an item is available or if it has been borrowed. The application links to your address book, allowing you easy access to contact information, and it can even assign a due date for borrowed items.
Delicious Library costs $39.95 and only runs on a Mac.
Delicious Library in School Libraries
One nice feature in this program is the ability to organize books, music, and movies into customized collections. In a school library, for example, the librarian could scan in collections of books that address certain themes or topics - maybe create a virtual display of all the Newbery Medal winners that a library owns, show a selection of books about the solar system, highlight books and videos on endangered species, or present the newest additions to the collection. This program is sort of like a virtual book display, but it also has the added benefit of providing easy access to detailed information about a book, album, or movie.
Delicious Library for Teachers & Students
Teachers could use Delicious Library to keep track of their professional resources or create reading lists for students. Students could use this application to create a shelf of books/movies/music to recommend to friends. The Delicious Library website also provided a great idea for students – to use this software for keeping track of all the sources they use for research projects.
Note: Delicious Library is not a web-based application and is intended to be used on a single computer. Even so, there are still many fun ways to use this application in a classroom or a school library.
Answers to Important Questions
Is there a limit to the number of items you can enter?
It seems like your digital collection can be as large as your hard drive will allow (or until you run out of things to scan).
Does it work with iTunes?
At this time, Delicious Library does not work with iTunes. In other words, you can't directly import your iTunes library into Delicious Library.
What about privacy?
According to the frequently asked questions of the Delicious Library website: “Your library information is stored on your computer and is never made public or shared with Delicious Monster. Data is fetched from Amazon.com in a number of circumstances, but no information identifying you is sent with these requests (except the intrinsic address on the channel used to communicate with Amazon).”
Related Links
Company Website: www.delicious-monster.com/
Review by Macworld (4/05)
Review by Ars Technica (11/04)
