The Anobii service, accessible at http://www.anobii.com/ is a Web 2.0 service (in case such things exist) that focuses on books. Books you own, books you have borrowed, books you would like to read or to own.

Briefly said, this multilingual service allows you to build a big list of books called your shelf. You add books by either inserting their ISBN code or by searching for title or author. The ISBN way is vastly more convenient, since each ISBN refers to a certain edition by a specific publisher. You can add data to each of the books that are on your shelf, including

  • how you got the book: purchase, borrowing, gift (Anobii users do not steal books)
  • whether and when you have started reading it, and whether and when you have finished the book
  • a private and a public remark
  • a set of tags
  • an evaluation on a 1-5 scale
  • whether you have rented the book, to whom and when it should come back
  • whether you are willing to swap it
Based on book shelf data, the system finds other users with similar tastes, that are called "neighbors". Additionally, you can indicate as "friends" users that you like. Friends can leave each other messages.

Outside of your shelf, you can also build a "wish list". Other users' shelves and wish lists can be browsed.