Previously, we walked through setting up an account with the Goodreads social network for people who read. This time around, we’ll take a look at how to manage your virtual bookshelves on the site. This becomes useful as your reading list grows.
Previously, I had set up a new account called stratepedia for the sake of showing you how the process works; however, for most of my interactions with the site I have a personal Goodreads account. I’ll be using the latter in this demonstration.
In your web browser, fire up http://www.goodreads.com/
Open the Goodreads website. You may need to log in using the account you created in our previous lesson. Once you’ve signed in, your window should look somewhat like this.
Click the My Books link to open your bookshelves
This link takes you to your list of books you’ve read, books you want to read, and books you’re currently reading. (Those are the default bookshelves; you can add custom shelves if you wish.)
View your bookshelf.
This is my "currently-reading" bookshelf. The only book there right now is a so-so collection of essays about the television show Veronica Mars.
Look at another bookshelf.
Goodreads provides a set of links to my other bookshelves. To look at books I’ve read, I just click on the "read" bookshelf link.
Here’s my "read" bookshelf. I can see the books I’ve read, what I’ve rated them, and any thoughts I had and chose to share about each.
So what do I do once I’ve finished reading my current book?
Switch back to the currently-reading bookshelf.
I want to move Neptune Noir from my "currently-reading" shelf to my "read" shelf, so I first use the "currently-reading" bookshelf link to move to where the book is currently (virtually) located.
Change the book’s shelf.
Next to the title of the book and my rating for it, I can see the shelf on which my book currently sits. To change this setting, I’ll click the Edit link, then select the "read" shelf. Then I’ll click the Close link. That’s it–my book is now moved from "currently-reading" to my pile of books I’ve read.
Select a new book to read.
Now let’s go over to my to-read bookshelf and select a new book. Click the link to the "to-read" bookshelf.
Of course, if I wanted to re-read a book I’ve already read, I could just as easily jump to the "read" bookshelf to move a book over.
Select a book from the list.
Just as I moved Neptune Noir from currently-reading to read, I can now move The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin from to-read to currently-reading. Click Close when finished.
Summary
That’s all there is to managing your virtual bookshelves on Goodreads. This might seem like a lot of to-do for nothing, but in our next lesson, we’ll look at how this helps your friends and colleagues see what you’re reading, what you’ve read, and what’s on your to-read list. That’s what makes Goodreads an example of a social network and a powerful tool for collaborative knowledge-building.
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