<s>
LibraryThing	B-Library
is	O
a	O
social	B-Protocol
cataloging	I-Protocol
web	B-Application
application	I-Application
for	O
storing	O
and	O
sharing	O
book	O
catalogs	O
and	O
various	O
types	O
of	O
book	O
metadata	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Based	O
in	O
Portland	O
,	O
Maine	O
,	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Tim	B-Library
Spalding	I-Library
and	O
went	O
live	O
on	O
August	O
29	O
,	O
2005	O
,	O
on	O
a	O
freemium	O
subscriber	O
business	O
model	O
,	O
because	O
"	O
it	O
was	O
important	O
to	O
have	O
customers	O
,	O
not	O
an	O
'	O
audience	O
 '	O
we	O
sell	O
to	O
advertisers.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
February	O
2021	O
,	O
it	O
has	O
2,600,000	O
users	O
and	O
over	O
155	O
million	O
books	O
catalogued	O
,	O
drawing	O
data	O
from	O
Amazon	B-Application
and	O
from	O
thousands	O
of	O
libraries	O
that	O
use	O
the	O
Z39.50	B-Protocol
cataloguing	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
feature	O
of	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
(	O
LT	O
)	O
is	O
the	O
cataloging	O
of	O
books	O
,	O
movies	O
,	O
music	O
and	O
other	O
media	O
by	O
importing	O
data	O
from	O
libraries	O
through	O
Z39.50	B-Protocol
connections	O
and	O
from	O
six	O
Amazon.com	B-Application
stores	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Members	O
are	O
encouraged	O
to	O
add	O
publicly	O
visible	O
reviews	O
,	O
descriptions	O
,	O
Common	O
Knowledge	O
and	O
other	O
information	O
about	O
a	O
work	O
;	O
ratings	O
,	O
collections	O
and	O
tags	B-General_Concept
help	O
categorization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
LibraryThing	B-Library
's	O
social	O
features	O
have	O
been	O
compared	O
to	O
bookmark	O
manager	O
Del.icio.us	B-Application
and	O
the	O
collaborative	O
music	O
service	O
Last.fm	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Similar	O
book	O
cataloging	O
sites	O
include	O
aNobii	O
,	O
BookLikes	O
,	O
Goodreads	B-Application
,	O
Libib	O
,	O
Shelfari	B-Library
(	O
now	O
merged	O
with	O
Goodreads	B-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
weRead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2016	O
,	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
launched	O
,	O
an	O
OPAC	O
designed	O
for	O
the	O
cataloging	O
and	O
circulation	O
of	O
libraries	O
of	O
up	O
to	O
20,000	O
items	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
LibraryThing	B-Library
is	O
majority	O
owned	O
by	O
founder	O
Tim	B-Library
Spalding	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
Online	O
bookseller	O
AbeBooks	O
bought	O
a	O
40%	O
share	O
in	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
in	O
May	O
2006	O
for	O
an	O
undisclosed	O
sum	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AbeBooks	O
became	O
a	O
subsidiary	O
of	O
Amazon	B-Application
in	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2009	O
,	O
Cambridge	O
Information	O
Group	O
acquired	O
a	O
minority	O
stake	O
in	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
,	O
and	O
their	O
subsidiary	O
Bowker	B-Library
became	O
the	O
official	O
distributor	O
to	O
libraries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
June	O
2006	O
,	O
LibraryThing	B-Library
was	O
subject	O
to	O
the	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
from	O
a	O
Wall	O
Street	O
Journal	O
article	O
.	O
</s>
