DC Public Library discussion

Hello DC Goodreaders!

I created a Chrome browser add-on that lets you determine the availability of books and ebooks at the DC Public Library when you're browsing Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

Download here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...

If a match is found, the extension gives a link to reserve a copy. It also displays the number of copies at the DCPL, their availability, and the length of the waiting list (if one exists).

If no match is found, links are provided to search manually and to request that the library purchase a copy.

This tool is a product of the Books for DC project. We also recently created a Twitter feed that lets you know about the most recent additions to the DCPL catalog. Follow along here: https://twitter.com/booksfordc/

We are affiliated with Code for DC and fans of the DCPL.

This is unspeakably awesome and I am now your #1 fan.

emanuelfeld wrote: "Hello DC Goodreaders!

I created a Chrome browser add-on that lets you determine the availability of books and ebooks at the DC Public Library when you're browsing Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and ..."

Wow! How wonderful! And so far it's working perfectly!

I've tried it and it works awesomely!

Thanks, all! If you have any feedback, ideas, issues, etc. feel free to message me on Twitter at @booksfordc or @evonfriedland. You can also use the form linked here.

The project got a really nice write up on the WAMU 88.5 website today.

Hi all! I made an update (v.1.0.12) to the Chrome extension last night. It should fix some issues I noticed that prevented results from appearing on certain pages. I also updated the design, in response to feedback that it was difficult to spot on pages (especially Amazon). Hopefully this takes care of that without being too intrusive.

Please send feedback on the release using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O62I...

The extension *should* auto-update in Chrome. If it doesn't, you can always get it on the Chrome store.

For Firefox users, I submitted the extension to be reviewed by Mozilla. Not sure how long that will take, but if you're impatient I can give you the file to install manually.

And for Safari users, I'm in the process of converting the extension to work for you..

emanuelfeld wrote: "Hi all! I made an update (v.1.0.12) to the Chrome extension last night. It should fix some issues I noticed that prevented results from appearing on certain pages. I also updated the design, in res..."

It is easier to spot now that there is more color--very nice! I'll fill out the feedback form. Mine updated automatically.

To everyone reading this: I'd really appreciate it if you would share this extension/Twitter/project with your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances. I'm especially interested in reaching out to people involved in education in DC public schools and/or community education and reading programs.

Update: You can now receive a daily or weekly email digest of the new books being tweeted out by the @booksfordc account. Check it out here.

I love both the app and the Twitter account. I've shared it with all of my friends on Facebook. I'm looking forward to receiving the weekly email. Keep up the good work!

I'm somewhat confused about the IFTTT format. Is there a way to sign up for the weekly digest without going through this site? Does it simply aggregate the Twitter posts that have been made that day/week?

Hey Chris! Sorry, yeah you would have to sign up for IFTTT (free) and subscribe to the digest there. That's exactly what it does.

I had a number of people say that the it was hard to keep track with the Twitter feed and this was the simplest way to make a email newsletter available (also means that I don't need to set up a database of people's email addresses and email preferences).

Honestly, the Twitter feed was mainly just meant to highlight the sheer number of books being added to the catalog.

If you like the Twitter feed, though, you and others on Goodreads might enjoy this new functionality. You can now tweet at the @booksfordc account with the details of the book/ebook/audiobook you're interested in and it will reply with whether it exists at the DCPL and a link to the resource.

For a book, just tweet:

@booksfordc s: book title book author

For an e-book, tweet:

@booksfordc ebook s: book title book author

And for an audio-book, tweet:

@booksfordc audio s: book title book author

The bot that runs the search will actually accept a number of other formats, which you can read about here, but that's probably sufficient.

Thanks for doing this and for letting us know! It was a great idea!