The DIY Library

In the future people could be carrying around their very own digital library which they have built up themselves on something like a digital notebook. This DIY Library could include items on the same subject such as ebooks, music and photos. Take for example Agatha Christie. If I were to have my own DIY Library on this legendary crime writer it would consist of all her novels, short stories and plays, of music featured in films and tv series based on her books and photos of locations in which these stories were set.

I have hard copies of all Agatha Christie's books. If I wanted to, I could catalogue them all online on the website LibraryThing - http://www.librarything.com/

You might wonder why I would bother, but you would be surprised how many people do this kind of thing. Not only can it be used for cataloguing, but also to 'chat' to people with the same reading interests or to find collections covering particular topics.

This site would be very useful for a library reading group because readers can write about and review what they've read. They can also read other users' reviews and give books a rating. This gets everyone involved and connects readers based on the type of books they like to read.

As to whether libraries should keep these sites up or leave it to the groups and enthusiasts themselves, this is a tricky one. If the local authority is putting their name to a group then I believe that staff should have the facility to edit and moderate posts.