Social Libraries: No more Shushh!
Dear Tabitha,
You asked about social bookmarking and cataloguing...
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| Quick visual. Made in Word. |
Social bookmarking and social cataloguing sites are sub-categories of social media. Like physical bookmarks, users of social bookmarking sites can note and share their favourite websites. Delicious and Slideshare are examples.
Social cataloguing websites allow laypeople to catalogue their own collections online and participate in informal cataloguing in libraries. Social catalogues often include things like material ratings and reviews, as "social discovery" is a key idea when talking about social cataloguing sites. GoodReads, WorldCat and LibraryThing are examples.
Social Bookmarking Comparison / First Impressions:
- Stumbleupon. I didn’t want to make an account, so didn’t browse Stumbleupon. Regardless, I’m not interested. This site uses language like “stumbling” for searching and calls me, as a searcher, a “stumbler.” I don’t find it cute. It just makes me feel clumsy and dumb. No, thank you.
- Digg is also a social news site. On a first glance, I had another ehh feeling. Digg’s homepage is visually clean but I didn’t like the tone of the featured stories. No digging necessary to get a feel for the site. Again, unimpressed.
- Reddit is the only social bookmarking site that I had heard of before. No, I don’t use it, but I can see how I might. As a social gateway to the web, I like that the homepage looks like an active, thriving site. It appears busy but by necessity. I also like that voting and commenting are usually anonymous, and people can subscribe to, and create any “sub-reddits” of our choice. Might do some exploring later.
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- Which tool did you choose to explore?Pinterest
- What is the name of the library using that tool, and what type of library is it? New York Public library (NYPL) is an easy example.
- What is the purpose of the use of that tool? It appears that NYPL is using Pinterest to engage the public. They market items from their giftshop, engage the public by posting patron's #ireadeverywhere pictures and “My library is…” quotes, share local history tidbits, and so on. There are 31 boards on the NYPL’s Pinterest account.
- In your opinion, is the library using the tool effectively, and why or why not?
Umm, in part. It seems like some boards were a bit underused. For example, the Geneology board has a meager 10 pins. There are a few gems among the NYPL’s Pinterest boards, but in general, the library seems to be on Pinterest for being on Pinterst’s sake. With limited curation of boards and apparent lack of strategy in the many boards that they do have, I feel NYPL is not optimizing their use of Pinterest. For starters, program boards?!
Social Bookmarking and Cataloguing: Useful from a library perspective?
Pro Brainstorm
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Con Brainstorm
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Patrons can search themselves, in terms they understand
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Library staff may not be as ‘in-touch’ with patrons.
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Everyone can participate
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Everyone can participate
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Multimedia platform to connect with others who share interests
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Highly visible—audiences self-target
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Low start-up cost
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Posts and bookmarks are not always moderated (this takes staff time and is often impossible to keep up on)
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Tagging / Bookmarking process is not guaranteed to be extensive (done in bits and pieces, often incomplete)
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Professional cataloguers may lose jobs
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My Stance (Now):
It makes sense to integrate traditional and social cataloguing systems. I can see success in public and school library settings if they use disclaimers and strategic promotion of certain social bookmarking/cataloguing sites.
Personal Use: Do I Use Any? Would I?
No, not really. Aside from Pinterest for collecting illustration ideas (I don’t post anything original, so am not really using Pinterest in a social way…), I use Facebook for event awareness and Messenger access, and have made—and deleted—a LinkedIn account.
As I said earlier, Reddit slightly interests me, especially for streamlined entertainment. LibraryThing also caught my eye as a social cataloguing site. I might want to create an account to keep track of my book collection at home!
It makes sense to integrate traditional and social cataloguing systems. I can see success in public and school library settings if they use disclaimers and strategic promotion of certain social bookmarking/cataloguing sites.
Personal Use: Do I Use Any? Would I?
No, not really. Aside from Pinterest for collecting illustration ideas (I don’t post anything original, so am not really using Pinterest in a social way…), I use Facebook for event awareness and Messenger access, and have made—and deleted—a LinkedIn account.
As I said earlier, Reddit slightly interests me, especially for streamlined entertainment. LibraryThing also caught my eye as a social cataloguing site. I might want to create an account to keep track of my book collection at home!
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