Criteria Used in Ranking the Books in the Books to Borrow

I want to use the books to borrow from another member who has a library similar to mine. I am wondering how the books to borrow list chooses which books are at the top of the list.

Does anyone know?

What I would really like is to see that book listing in the members library but that would require a new feature, which isn't likely to happen.

Because LT knows what books everybody has, they know what books cluster together. They know that, in general, the people with Book X also have Books Y and Z. So the "what should you borrow" algorithm looks at your books, and at that member's library, and finds which books in that other member's library cluster with the books in your library, but that you don't already have. I'm pretty sure that the list is prioritized by how strongly the books in question "cluster" LT-wide.

I don't understand what you mean by "see that book listing in the members library". You know which member you are comparing to, and you can always see any other member's catalog.

>2 Foretopman: I think that the ask is for the recommendations page that now shows the list (https://www.librarything.com/profile/MEMBERNAME/recommendations/whatshouldyouborrow/JoeB1934 for example) to allow the lists to show unto the user’s library and not as a list (so they do not need to check one by one what tags, editions and so on the books are using for example or to see other details in the same view).

>3 AnnieMod: Ah, so the "what should you borrow" would look more like the "books you share in X's catalog"?

>3 AnnieMod: Yes, that is exactly what I would wish for! You have seemed to understand my way of thinking once again. Thanks.

>4 Foretopman: Yep. I like the current way of showing it (because it tells you why that book is recommended) but I can see why someone would like to see it in a catalog where all columns can be shown.

>6 AnnieMod: If I could see all the columns, I could decide which 25 books, say out of 600 books to borrow, would best fit my needs to augment my library.

Another way to provide the best opportunity to accomplish this would be to add ISBN to the display of books to borrow. If that was done I could obtain the same results.

>7 JoeB1934: But... if I have the book in say Bulgarian, it will still show it as 'you should borrow' I think - but you don't want to see the details of the book in another language - that won't help you after all (its ISBN is kinda irrelevant when you need it in another language).

I am not saying that there aren't some things which may be useful (tags for example?) but I don't think ISBN will be much of a help in some cases.

>8 AnnieMod: As per usual I wasn't clear enough in asking for ISBN to be added. There are two formats presenting the books.

The first one is a simple listing of suggested books. For example, currently there are 653 books for me, listed as:

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath

I can select any of the listed books and add the book to my library and do a couple of steps to get back to this simple list.

Meanwhile the second display has:

JoeB1934 should borrow from benitastrnad

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (Your library, To read, Wishlist)
Based on: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone: A Novel by Diana Gabaldon, This Tender Land: A Novel by William Kent Krueger — 30 more

The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles (Your library, To read, Wishlist)
Based on: Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel (Two Medicine Country) by Ivan Doig, This Tender Land: A Novel by William Kent Krueger — 29 more

If I select a book from this list, I can add it to my library, but I can't return to the list without LT going through the long process of developing the whole books to borrow drill, which takes considerable time.

Meanwhile, if the first format had an ISBN attached I could copy the complete list of 653 books into Excel and construct a csv import file appropriately formatted to import the complete list into my library. Once the list is there I can use the Tag Mirror facility to place tags on all 653 possible books to borrow. Then I can select the best books for me to borrow based on my concept.

If the books to borrow was displayed in the benitastrnad catalog all of these possibilities could be avoided.

I suppose even this long explanation is still confusing to most readers.

>9 JoeB1934: I think you did not get what I was getting at: the edition in benitastrnad's catalog view will be the one they have added - which may not be in English or may be an edition which is not available or not have an ISBN at all. So if you get to the catalog and look at the ISBN there, it may not help you to find an ISBN you can add to your catalog. So even of that ISBN (if it is there at all) is added somewhere on a screen, it may not be the one you actually would want to add to your catalog.

The "What you should borrow" points to works, not to titles/books essentially (is the point I am trying to make) - as is the case with all recommendations.

>10 AnnieMod: Thanks for the explanation.