OK - so in my enthusiasm as to how I could PERSONALLY use Library Thing - I didn't really share any thoughts on how it could be used from a library perspective. So, here's my thoughts:
1. Since you can search by title, and can directly search the Library of Congress, it is a great tool for someone at the reference desk who is asked to find all the books with that particular title and then work with their patron to figure out "which one" is theirs... Til now, I've been using Amazon myself (and, of course, one of the 'catalogs' this searches is Amazon) - but it also has LOC and some other book sites that you can search in, all in one site.
2. Search by Author - same thing. I also think it would help with questions such as "which book came next" in a particular series.
3. Common theme here - I love telling people about cool stuff, so I can definitely see sharing this with my patrons for their own use. I would imagine from there, since you can share your virtual library, it would be a very simple thing for a patron to note the name of a book on the site, then share their "library" with a librarian (for example, a book list for summer reading, or the like) to get exactly the books they are looking for (or arrange for it to be ILL).
Effectively, what I'm getting from this is that one of its functions is as a sort of multi-functional/ multi-dimensional and multi-fasceted Reader's Advisory site.
Again I say - very cool!!
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