I'm getting some push back on the BooksIsFree idea. First, Eric noted he was already thinking of doing something similar using Movable Type, especially after he found a tutorial for MT explaining how the author of What Do I Know “uses categories to automate the display of the Featured and Recent book reviews”. I still think Radio might be easier, but I think MT might handle multiple review authors better. I'm not sure though, since I've only looked at the MT interface once and that was a few months ago.
Then along comes Steven, introducing a whole new aspect that I hadn't even thought of.
“I think that this is a wonderful and very possible idea. However, I would like to take this is a step further. Not only using librarians to provide reviews over an RSS based web site, but using the insights, knowledge, and love of literature of our patrons in the process. Imagine a discussion group and at the same time having our patrons reccommending books to one another, all with the library at the center of the work.”
There's a little mind bomb for me. I suppose that if I'm going to advocate hopping on the cluetrain and interacting more directly with your users, then I'd better start thinking that way about my own projects. Steven's idea adds that ingredient to the mix. And the more I think about it, I guess this is really ReviewsIsFree, not BooksIsFree.
I have a library in mind to approach with this whole idea, so I'll have to think all of this through before I call them. I'd like to continue the conversation with both Eric and Steven, so flesh out both of your ideas, guys! [The Shifted Librarian]