starting a community library

Hi,
Last summer, the city of Newton, MA decided to close its last 4 beloved branch libraries due to budget cuts. A group of community organizers are trying to get a couple of them re-opened as community libraries - staffed by volunteers and run on donations.

We were wondering if there is some way we could work with you to organize a flashmob to catalog the books and use LibraryThing for libraries to start a sort of circulation system. The current minuteman cataloging information will be supposedly purged.

We would love to hear your ideas and thoughts about this project. Thanks!

Ellen

May I urge you to do your utmost to get a download of the existing cataloging before it's purged? A friend of mine who is vice-principal of a local high school had the nasty experience of having their library's cataloging dumped by the regional group who ran all the cataloging for several schools in the system, without any notice. Once it's gone, it's gone - get it while the going is good!

Oh you definitely need to get a copy of your catalog before it's purged! We might be able to just import your MARC records in bulk for you. Tim or Casey?

LTFL (LibraryThing for Libraries) is a catalog add-on (putting tags, reviews, ratings, recommendations, etc. into the OPAC). It doesn't have a circulation system.

Getting a copy of the cataloguing data is certainly critical, assuming you're going to be dealing with pretty much the same books. You might need to negotiate a bit to make it clear that you only want the catalogue, though, not the circulation records, which they certainly won't want to hand out!

How's the "library restart process going there in Newton?