would you like recommendations for books at library?

evilmonkee

Hi Guys,

This is my first post in this forum and I wanted to ask you all your opinion on this.
I'm a computer science student and I'm currently writing a paper on building a recommendation system for a library.
The idea is that you would have a profile linked to your library account with simple details including your age-group and what genres you are interested in.(No one can view this information, it is not like a facebook or twitter page)
When you return a book you are asked to rate them 1-5.
Recommendations for books you may be interested in would be made by comparing the scores previous readers have given along with how similar their interests are, if they are in the same age group etc.

I love to read, but often I don't know what to read next, so I came up with this idea.
I just wanted to get peoples opinions on whether this would interest them? Would you use it? Or what features would you like to see in a system similar to this?

Thanks everyone!

flyaway.

I'm sure it would interest some people but personally- no. I've been doing all this through Goodreads.com for years so I wouldn't find it necessary to do it through my library too.

It's a good idea though!

Grievous

The answer to the original post is this: www.goodreads.com


This describes everything mentioned in the first post.

evilmonkee

Thanks for your input.

I realize the goodreads provides this service, however this service would be aimed at doing it in person at your local library - if you use the library. It would be based on the cataolg of books which this library has available , which goodreads cannot provide.

I was just wondering if a service such as this would be used, it is for a paper, not to implement the actual service.

old gregg

I'd be interested in having my library use the information I provide to source new books that I'm likely to enjoy as well as to make reccomendations based on my preferences and what they have in stock. I quite often walk into my library with little idea as to what I want so a reccomendation is often appreciated.

goodreads.com involves planning ahead and I don't do that sort of thing

Toby Take a Bow

If it's an in-library based thing, then I definitely think it's a good idea (and even if it's online-only, why not get it started and see how it goes)? There's a LOT of people who don't use Goodreads or don't have a lot of access to the internet, so this could definitely be used on top of the service provided by librarians and assistant-librarians.

traveller80

I think its a great idea. In fact, the library im a member of does this, so you can read reviews and recommendations of books, ebooks, dvds etc from other members that the library has in stock.

I'm a member of goodreads too, but i tend to use the library site more as i'll log in to check if they have a book i want in stock and then read the reviews and probably browse a few other reviews while im at it.

This is the link: http://www.bpl.bc.ca/
although you need to be a member to log in and have access to the review/recommendations section.

evilmonkee

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply and provide input

E.T.

I think it's a good idea, I'd like to see it in my local library.

mathepac

I like the sound of it.

Presumably you've looked at stuff like iTunes that recommends new stuff and new mixes based on purchases, played most often, library stats, etc.

I find this works well and is much less obtrusive than say amazon.com's "customers who bought this yoke also bought these thingies".

I know that ultimately both approaches are about gathering and reusing data regarding purchasing patterns, but I like one's rather gentle approach.