What is Biblionasium?
It’s a website where you can rate, review, and recommend books, plus interact with others who enjoy the same books – sound familiar? That’s because it is! If you are an avid reader or maybe just looking for a recommendation for a gift it is more than likely you have stumbled upon Goodreads. Biblionasium markets itself as Goodreads for Kids, and it is exactly that.
This web based application promotes books in a way a library or librarian by themselves could never do. The peer interaction through the sharing of books builds excitement around what students are reading and is credited for improving book circulation.
This excitement is created by allowing students to build bookshelves, not just of books they have read, but also of books they are reading, want to read or already own. The site then allows the students to interact with each other through social media posts, achievements, and reviews.
Why Biblionasium?
It can be difficult deciding what educational resource to use in any situation, this is why I try and review them each time using the Triple E’s. Does it – Extend, Enhance, and Engage the audience I intend to use it for? Luckily using Biblionasium is an easy decision because it hits all of the criteria I am looking for. It Extends by being easily accessible in the user’s everyday life. It Enhances by adding value to the learning goal of reading, and it Engages by motivating the user to start learning while allowing for social and active learning..
Since I am a relatively new user to Biblionasium the only downside to date that I am seeing is that the program is not easily compatible with Follet Destiney (a tool I use to catalogue books) and the fact that you can’t actually read the titles that you add to your bookshelf, a feature I would love to see added one day.
If any of you are interested in checking out Biblionasium for yourself feel free to use the link below.
Although this resource is recommended for ages 6-13, I am going to start using it at home with my own children as well as my elementary students in grades 3-5. It’s a bit early to tell for sure but I think this will be one of my favorite new additions to the classroom this year…but I will keep you updated one way or the other. @Biblionasium @Theresourcefullibrarian @Liz Kolb @LIS568
The Resourceful Librarian 
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