LibraryThing Scanner: an App Review

I’ve recently begun using my LibraryThing account in earnest, and have been adding books to my “to read” list by the dozen. In the course of doing so, I’ve found myself missing the barcode scanner I use at work to make quick work of ISBN numbers. LibraryThing sells its own barcode scanners, but knowing what smartphones can do means that I am reluctant to buy something when I think there might be a free alternative. Sure enough - there’s an app for LibraryThing. Unfortunately for me, it’s not available for Android yet. Fortunately for me, someone came up with a work-around app that scans barcodes and links them to LibraryThing records. So, huzzah for the aptly-named LibraryThing Scanner! Well… in theory. 

The app starts off well, with a very simple one-screen interface:

Hard to mess up here

And the scanner itself works even when you hold it at awkward, blurry angles:

This focused quickly

But the link that opens to the webpage… that’s where I ran into problems. The big one being: LibraryThing does not have a mobile page. Accordingly, the text is small, the pages hard to navigate, and the search results difficult to see. 

This... this is too small

The app did the job as advertised, and I suspect that if given a very large stack of books, it might be worth the navigational issues. Scanning several more codes demonstrated that the process does get quicker each time, particularly if the “add a book” settings remain the same. This app gets 2 ½ stars of 5 from me; with a bit of effort, it serves its purpose as a free way to imput books quickly. That being said - I’ll be using it as a stop-gap until the Android app for LibraryThing comes out and streamlines the process even more.