"Friends only" privacy option

It would be great if there was a privacy option on the site so that an account's "friends" (or library members) could view the catalogue, but without having to make the catalogue available to the public at large. At present, there are only two options "private" (which means no one else can see it) or "public" (which means everyone can). These two options do not cater for libraries operating in contexts where making the catalogue completely public poses risks to the librarians, and yet members still need to be able to access the catalogue. Would you consider adding an "Only friends can view my books" option?

Perhaps a password-protected option? I definitely see your concern about risks to libraries, but in some communities, not every potential patron of a library would be willing to set up an account and 'friend' their library. A password would allow a degree of privacy without forcing all patrons to sign up to the LT website.

Good idea, having the option of a "password protected public library" could an alternative way of addressing the problem. Perhaps a library's profile could be made public but to access the catalogue a potential patron (whether they have an account or not) would have to send a request to the library for access / a password. This would allow regular patrons to access the library catalogue at will using the password and allow the library to vet potential new patrons prior to them gaining access.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/25833
https://www.librarything.com/topic/42096

This has been a running request from 2007. And I believe the admin commented on one of the above linked threads.

Yes, I believe this functionality has been contemplated for since the dawn of LT. It is surely non-trivial to implement, and even the Private Book feature has been quite vexed over the years.

Coming soon