ETH Library Idea Contests

Book ratings and statistics

by Matthew Moy de Vitry | Nov 8, 2018 | in Student Challenge: Idea Contest

Is that book really worth ordering?

The ETH Library should allow users to rate and comment on books and collections. ETH-specific comments would be useful, for example: "This book is an essential supplement for course 227-0427-00L"

It would also interesting to see statistics about books, e.g. what the profile is of the typical borrower, e.g. post-docs in Environmental Engineering

Idea image
edited on Nov 8, 2018 by Matthew Moy de Vitry

Roland Lüthi Nov 8, 2018

Hello Matthew Moy de Vitry, thank you for this interesting idea. Would this imply that the library catalogue would be extended into something like a "Social Cataloging" - Website (e.g. https://www.goodreads.com )?

Matthew Moy de Vitry Nov 8, 2018

That's right! Should I change the title to make it more clear?

Roland Lüthi Nov 8, 2018

Good, I only wanted to clarify. Your title sums it up nicely.

Yeshi Wang Nov 12, 2018

nice! I have exactly the same idea! The statistic such as popularity and profile would be very interesting over a long time, from which people can even trace the development of the discipline.

Matthew Moy de Vitry Nov 13, 2018

Thanks for the feedback!

AnnetteG Nov 15, 2018

Hello Matthew - thank you very much for your idea. I would like to know a little more on how you would imagine such a function. Therefore, these questions:
- where would you expect to see the rating/comments? In the results list oder the detail view of a book?
- if you rated a book, would you be willing to give some information about yourself (e.g. post-doc, Environmental Sciences)?
- is it "just" books? - you write about borrowing - or could it also be for other materials (e-books, databases, e-journals, images...)

Matthew Moy de Vitry Nov 15, 2018

Thanks Annette for the feedback and questions!
- Let's include very brief info in the list view and detailed info in the detailed view. Brief info could include average rating or ranking in a specific category, e.g. "ranked #2 in Fluid Dynamics"
- I would be willing to share department and status information. Since that info is already linked to my ETH account, I wouldn't even have to type it in myself. (hopefully)
- You're right. This feature should be available for all material.

AnnetteG Nov 16, 2018

Thanks a lot for clarifiying, Matthew!

Claudia Lienhard Jan 31, 2019

This idea has been advanced to the current phase

Claudia Lienhard Feb 21, 2019

This idea has been advanced to the current phase

Claudia Lienhard Mar 12, 2019

This idea has been advanced to the current phase

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