How to Use the Catalog: Get Social

Our Social Catalog

Share your opinion on what you read, watch and listen to. This helps others learn more about an item and connects them to related content. In turn, comments and ratings from others can pique your interest—or warn you away!  Three emoticons: Sticking out tongue, lovey-heart eyes, and blushing.

Rate Items

Average rating is indicated, as well as the section where you rate an item by choosing the number of stars you'd like to award from a drop-down menu.Rate an item to show your love or loathing!

  1. Find an item in the catalog.
  2. Click its title.
  3. Next to Rate this, choose the number of stars (including half stars) you think it deserves.

Add Comments + More

Find From the community under the Opinion section further down the item's info page and browse the comments to see what others think.

From the community section showing a comment from user Casiepaws.

Scroll down to More from the community to see Community lists featuring this title, as well as Community contributions (Quotations, Summaries, Videos, and Suitability recommendations). Select a section and then Add content if you have something to say. 

Community contributions sections showing the option to Add quotation.

You may choose to add any of the following:

  • Quotations: Add favorite quotations from the item.
  • Summaries: Add a short summary.
  • Videos: Add video links to related book or movie trailers, music videos, reviews, interviews, etc.
  • Suitability: Enter a recommended age rating and content notices.
     

Note: Any item for which you add details will automatically go on your Completed Shelf. Your additions will be public unless you make the item private. Learn more about privacy for shelves.

You can edit or delete details later by choosing the edit option and removing the text or selections you made. 

Add Tags

Tags describe an item in one or two words. Get at-a-glance insight what an item is about and select a tag to see other items with the same tag.

To view tags, go to the Community tags section, located under Explore further. Click on View all to see the full list of tags.

Community tags shown under the Explore further section. A red arrow points to the "View all" option.

To add your own tags, go to an item on any one of your shelves and click on Tags below the Rate this section. You may add four different types of tags: Genre, Tone, Theme and Personal. ​Personal tags are private only to you. Other tags are publicly visible but anonymous.

Book "The Lady Upstairs" shown with the option to add Tags (under Rate this section).

Follow + Message Users

See a great comment or list? You can follow the user who made it, view their public shelves and message them. When you follow users, what they share shows on your Library Dashboard under Get Ideas.

  • You cannot follow users anonymously; it appears in their profile.
  • Everyone you follow (and who follows you) is publicly available in My Profile > Community.


Follow from a Comment

  1. Select the person's username:

    A sample review, with the user's name, austinbibliophile, circled.
     
  2. Choose Follow button.  If available, choose Read More to learn about the person. 


Follow from a List
Hover over the list creator's name to View Profile or Follow. 

An arrow points out AustinPLAdultLibrarians as a link on the list "Adoptee Reading".   AustinPLAdultLibrarians account shown with options to View Profile and Follow highlighted.


Message + More
When viewing a profile, you can send the person a Message, Ignore them, and view their full Profile, which shows their Shelves and Lists.

AustinPLAdultLibrarians profile page shown with options to Message, view Shelves, view Lists, and more.