I like the idea of finding libraries in Canada that are doing interesting things with technology in the realm of social software. The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) is not (yet) making use of some of the social bookmarking or tagging sites that are already out there, but it is doing something interesting by way of collaborative, social reviewing on its very own reviews page.

In the BlogJunction post, “10 Ways to Make Your LIbrary Great in 2008: Resolution #1″ (which, by the way is “Use Technology”), Ed Rossman suggests the use of LibraryThing. He links to the Shaker Heights Public Library and its use of LibraryThing for local history and authors collections. I think that the EPL is doing something smaller (but similar) on its own site.

The Book Reviews page can be found from the homepage of the EPL by clicking on “Books” under the “Find more”, or by clicking the “Find more” tab and choosing “Books & Readers”. I think it would be helpful to have a “Book Reviews” link displayed prominently on the homepage without having to take these avenues, but I still found the reviews pretty easily. It’s hard to know how easily I would have found them, however if I didn’t already know they were there, and know what I was looking for. It seems to make sense that there would be something like the “Book Reviews” since the site has an entire set of pages dedicated to services for and about books and readers.

I looked under “Book Reviews by EPL Customers” and “Science Fiction“. (Interesting use of terminology, by the way. Not library patrons, but customers – very bookstore.) There is a thumbnail of each book reviewed (if available), a list of links to reviews on Chapters and Amazon, and the reviews. Each review includes the username of the reviewer, a rating, audience, and the review itself. If you click on the username, it brings up all reviews by that user. This function seems to be similar (if more primitive and without the tags) to the idea of keeping personal/publicized lists of favourites, like in del.icio.us or LibraryThing. I like the idea that the reviews are associated with the patron record. Something about it seems more personal. Like the reviews would mostly be coming from members of your own library community.

I’m tempted to suggest that the EPL check out LibraryThing and get on board with that, but something about the homegrown approach appeals to me. The EPL review system seems to be very well used. It’s unique to the EPL and its users. If I wanted to get the LibraryThing, or Amazon for that matter, experience, I could go there. I’m not sure I would regularly write reviews, but I would definitely read them when choosing books at the EPL.

One of the other advantages of doing a reviews service like this in-house, is that it is in a technical format that would be familiar to even novice computer users. The service is easy to understand for new users and it doesn’t require registering for a new account, or leaving the site and navigating a (possibly new) outside site. This would make this service easier for new users to grasp than something like LibraryThing or del.icio.us.

A major improvement to the reviews would be to add a tagging function. I’d like to be able to browse by tags rather than just by categories set by the library, and users’ selections. That addition would take this service from “pretty cool” to “yes! that’s it, this is really useful”.