Since I last brought it up I’ve gotten over my beef with the library. I go online, search for what I want to check out (usually a few selections from my Goodreads “to-read” list) and see what’s available at my branch. Then I drive to the central branch and check out my selections, because my local branch inevitably doesn’t carry what I want. It’s OK; it’s only a couple miles down the road. And at least I can drop books off at my branch when I’m done.

However, I still have one complaint.

The library’s Web site. It kinda sucks. But in fairness, I did check out some other cities‘ libraries‘ sites and they aren’t much better. Some are prettier, sure, but no more user-friendly.

My number one issue is that I have to enter my library card number to access my account. It’s 13 digits long. I’m no coder but it seems it’d be incredibly easy to allow a user to choose an I.D. to associate with his or her account, as I’ve done this with other services. This way users don’t have to either a) memorize yet another number or b) keep their wallets handy whenever they want to access the library’s Web site.

Basically, it would be cool if the library’s Web site was more like Amazon’s. Amazon can tell me every single thing I’ve purchased since 2002. It makes recommendations based on what I’ve purchased and even what I’ve viewed. If the last thing I checked out was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, maybe the library could tell me, based on what other people who’ve checked out that same book have selected, what I may also enjoy? Maybe even allow me to maintain a wishlist that I can pull up whenever I’m at the library (possibly even imported from my “to-read” Goodreads shelf).

Which brings me to…. smartphone apps. Washington DC’s public library has an iPhone app that enables users to store their account information, search the card catalog and place holds on books. Ideally it would have most of the functionality of the Web site and possibly display an image of a user’s barcode (a la CardStar or even the Starbucks card app) so all he would have to do is hold out his phone to check out a book. Also it would make coffee and pick up prescriptions.