Share a Collection

Would it be possible to add the ability to view a 'shared' collection as a collection within another account. My scenario is this: I am working for an educational establishment and we want to catalogue the department's own books (not part of the main library) on Librarything. It would be useful if the tutors could then share their reference collections with the department's account so that they can be seen by the students as a subsection of the deparment's collection.

At the moment I am exporting a collection and then importing it, but this means I have to repeat it whenever I add to my collection, it would be better if we could share and changes are automatically reflected on the other site.

Would be really useful.

What you can do now is have each person catalogue these books separately and all join a special group. Then the group books can be searched. The results show up separated by the various members.

https://www.librarything.com/index_catalog_lt2.php?group=22144&search=flower...

Can I connect a group to tinycat, so that the students can search as a single library?

No, just tried that and it isn't workable... I need to be able to share a specific collection. If I do it via groups, it shares everything.

>1 JonFarley: As a current work around, each department can share the link to their reference collection and you can create a document where people can click the link to go in and search. Not as efficient but it is something that can be done.

But I am back to the problem that the students can then search my whole catalogue, not just the collection I want to allow access to.

So that would only work if I could set up a second Tinycat front-end that displayed one collection only.

There is a permanent link feature on your catalog. Define what you want to share, either by collection or a unique tag. Then go to the bottom of that page and click on the permanent link. Copy that url and share it.

>7 2wonderY: That won’t stop someone from clicking on the other collections and browsing them though.

This is the problem. The students must only be able to see what I am allowing them to see, so that they don't take offence at anything else I may have in my collection. So I am just going to have to continue exporting and importing... A faf really, but the only viable option at present.

>9 JonFarley: Why not create a second account and add the books you want them to be able to see there?

Could always create an account just for the department and establish a collection for each educator. Then you don't catalog the "offending books" (there really should be no such thing) into that collection or that account and everyone is in one place.

>9 JonFarley: "The students must only be able to see what I am allowing them to see, so that they don't take offence at anything else I may have in my collection."

In that case I hope your account name isn't your real name, because it certainly looks like a name.

>11 gilroy: That's what I am doing by exporting from my collection and importing into the department collection. But is is such a long winded process and why I was wondering if I could 'share' a specific collection with another in the first place.

>12 Cynfelyn: It is my real name and there is a difference between people actively seeking out offence and me putting it directly under their noses. One is not my fault/problem and the other is.

>13 JonFarley: Why not just enter the book twice rather than fuss with exporting and importing?

>13 JonFarley: No, you misunderstand. If you have everyone with a smart phone and a Librarything app, logged into that one account, they can scan directly into that account, without you having to export then import. Then you just need to clean it up to make it uniform. Much less work.

>15 MarthaJeanne: Personally, I have 7,000 discrete pieces of professional reference, and growing all the time.

I sorted out one batch of your books that should not have been combined. You might want to take a look at https://www.librarything.com/stats/JonFarley/workdups

JonFarley (#9):

If you're concerned about your students taking offense at your having cataloged a book (!), I can only suggest taking your current account private and creating new one with only the books you're willing to have them see.

Yes, if you want to keep your work collection separate from your personal collection, you should have two separate accounts. (Honestly, even if LT did do the things you are asking it to do, you should *still* have a separate work and personal account if you are using the work account for work.)

>20 melannen: Honestly, even if LT did do the things you are asking it to do, you should *still* have a separate work and personal account if you are using the work account for work.

Sage advice. And I bewail the environment in which faculty must tiptoe around students "taking offense" at objects of intellectual curiosity.

>21 paradoxosalpha: Or parents getting offended for their kids.

gilroy (#22):

Now that makes more sense. I mean, it's totally outrageous and unreasonable, but it's something that happens daily in modern America, so as a thing to be worried about it's not crazy - but if I were worried about that I wouldn't have an LT account linked to my real name at all.

>21 paradoxosalpha: I mean, sure, but also, even if he was an accountant at a toilet paper factory, his coworkers shouldn't have to worry about accidentally learning in the course of doing their jobs exactly what kind of erotica he reads (or what weird medical conditions he's researching, or whatever.) Keeping your personal accounts separate from your professional ones is basic professional courtesy in every job. I know it's a grayer line or harder to do in some jobs than others, but "keep two LT accounts" isn't a huge hurdle.