I just read the article "Tagging meets Subject Heading" and I think this is a good illustration of how crazy catalogers can get (Ha, Ha). Actually I worked as a cataloger for a couple of years and can definitely attest to the imperfections in LCSH subject headings. It is important to have some standard though for organizational purposes, even if it is imperfect but personally I like the fact that you can add tags in LibraryThing that offers a more intuitive language. A good illustration for me is "romance". There is no such subject heading in LCSH although they use "love stories" in their genre subject heading. If you type in "romance" and view the catalog record, you'll see that the system now is looking in both title and description but if you don't know to type in "love stories" you won't get a comprehensive search. Adding "romance" as a tag through LibraryThing enhances the record and makes it more accessible -- and that's the whole idea, connecting information for people's needs.

I was just looking at the semls20 tags on de.li.cious and found the Library Chick website. Don't you just love being a librarian sometimes? There is so much great information that we share -- and we're really good at sharing. Great stuff.

P.S. I also found Librarian Avengers http://librarianavengers.org/ with a link to YouTube's "Medieval Helpdesk" -- it's so true you have to laugh.

Thank you, Kathy for helping me with my problem. It looks like I will be able to add comments now.

Great Cynthia! I'm so happy we were able to figure it out!

I read the article "Top Fifty Librarian Blogs". I found a really good YA/Teen Blog. While searching the article I also had a chance to see some Twitters.

Debbie W.

I seem to take one step forward and two back. I tried posting a picture from Flickr using the New Post section. The photo posted but not my comment and an old comment is stuck below the picture. Phew! Maybe I need to spend more time on this. Is anyone else having a frustrating experience or is it just me. This is not my first online class and I'm not one who is afraid of technology and the Internet. How many hours does it take to learn how to post a picture to a blog! Yikes!

Hi Cynthia,

I just checked your blog and saw the picture. From what I can tell, the photo is posted with the caption of "knitted cupcakes." Is this the old comment you see appearing? Right below that post is your previous post from April 30 when you talked about finishing knitting a sweater. That comment is not part of the post with the photo. I think some of the confusion may stem from the fact that, with the previous post, the entire post was written in the title box and nothing was written in the message body, so the display looks a little strange.

Kathy

I think all 3 services are great and can be useful to any library. I just don't know where I would find the time to use all of them. If I had to choose one, I would use LibraryThing. It would help keep me connected with new titles and with other librarians. If I had time to use Flickr, I would post photos of events taking place in the school. I would use Delicious to see what other libraries are talking about and to check up on current technologies. I compared LibraryThing to my catalog and thought the records were almost similar. The only difference was the summary. Also, there is a nice citation feature in LibraryThing. I think tagging is useful for people who do not work from the same computer every day. They have the convenience of bookmarking and locating information from anywhere. I think tagging is useful if you are searching for information on current topics. LC subject heading are more structured, but tagging allows you to label your tags to fit the needs of your library.

Debbie W.

Since I work in an archives, I think the most useful for me is Flickr. I deal with alot of visual material, and it's an easy way to share it. I posted some renovation photos, emailed them to one of my colleagues, and she can potentially show these photos as a slide show when she visits with colleagues in the Azores next week. I think this is pretty cool. It doesn't rely on having a saved powerpoint presentation! Only a decent internet connection. I don't think I'd really use Librarything all that much, unless I had a group who wanted to know about all the new titles I get in special collections or something. I'm not an avid reader, and don't work in the traditional library setting. Delicious is useful when you travel from computer to computer as I often do! I will probably use this one to keep track of my own reference bookmarks where ever I go.

Judy

I liked delicious the best as the tags lead me to a bounty of information that interests me; Flickr was my second favorite because photos are a great way to make a blog entry appealing and, prior to this, I have found it difficult to find appealing copyright free graphics. Library Thing is my least favorite. I feel like a heathen but I prefer Amazon to Library Thing.

In November 2007, I first discovered LibraryThing and promoted it on our regional blog, WMRLS-One-Blog -http://wmrls.blogspot.com/2007/11/librarything-and-new-wmrls-professional.html I asked readers to vote for their favorite method of promoting new WMRLS Professional Titles. Surprisingly ( I real want member librarians to comment on posts and haven’t been very successful in this regard) librarians emailed me their recommendations which were largely to maintain the WMRLS Professional Collection Website -http://www.wmrls.org/wrapper/newprof.html

LibraryThing vs MARC: My immediate answer is that LibraryThing beats MARC because it provides more information and is visually appealing.

Tagging vs LC Subject Headings: Tagging is more useful for personal use while LC subject headings are more useful for group and/or organization use. I am not a cataloger and it shows! Before I got the hang of tagging, my descriptors (on the WMRLS-One-Blog) were awful. I have vowed to go back and update the defective tags - this is on my "things to do" list.

I have really enjoyed Week Two, Kathy. I have no tardy slips this week which makes me very proud of myself. Many thanks for providing this wonderful course. ~ Janet

Thanks for informing me about Library Chick. I looked it up on delicious and browsed for a little while. I too think it has a lot of good, free information.

Debbie W.

I've learned many new things this week. - it may take more time for me to process and integrate these ideas into library service. Of the three sites, I personally liked LibraryThing because I am drawn to that kind of organizing and thinking - and reading! LibraryThing is more helpful than a typical library catalog because it allows social networking - with links to discussion, recommendations, the ability to identify people with shared interests. Flickr can be of special use in locating photos for library websites, library events, etc. Delicious, again, is a great tool for building a personal address book that can be accessed globally. Not sure of library applications.

As much as I would like to throw out some of the LC subject headings, I still think that hierarchical taxonomy is important in extremely diverse, large collections. That said, I think that most people will prefer tagging - because of the freedom - and personal control - it allows. LC subject headings are doomed anyway. Who searches by alphabetical subject lists anymore?

Much to think about. Eden

When I started to compare records in LibraryThing and our catalogue, I also explored WorldCat local, which was just implemented here. I noticed there was a link from one of my LibraryThing book records to WorldCat in the "buy, borrow or swap" box. It does very much the same thing as LibraryThing in terms of social networking and tagging. I set up an account and profile. The best addition the tagging sites offer is the addition of visuals of book covers, which as always has been a way of getting people to buy or read a book.

Judy

I used delicious when it first came out. It has more features now and is still a useful, helpful tool.

Tags in flickr are not always on target, but they are helpful. I remember someone looking up the tag Pyramids and Egypt and getting a great picture of the pyramids. One of the other tags was way off base (I don't remember now what it was) and gave us all a good laugh.

I would never want to see libraries use tags exclusively because they are not standardized. Although---LC should take a look at some tags and realize the terms real people use; sometimes I find myself saying 'you've got to be kidding' when I am creating subject tracings for a record. They will use terms not used by the general public.

I have used LibraryThing before, but I didn't keep it up. I guess I got lazy when I realized that my regional library OPAC keeps a record of what I read. LibraryThing offers the opportunity to find out what others think of books you like. It's fun to browse and look for books that I might want to read.

Kathy, I didn't have any luck adding you as a friend in LibraryThing. I was asked to select an email option, gmail, yahoo, etc. Huh? Also, the LibraryThing address you gave us, are we supposed to place that in the next box? When I did no one was listed as owning that address.

Cynthia

I forgot to mention that I had a problem when I tried to add the Flickr picture to my blog. Instead of using the Flickr Blog tool I copied and pasted the picture and lost the comments I had made and more importantly the citation for the photo.

Cynthia

This was another interesting week. While I have encountered these tools before, this session was very helpful in clarifying some details. The "overview" video was very helpful. Thanks.

I have been looking for images that can be used "for free" by professors in their class presentations and conference presentations. (And of course they are "medical" in nature--body parts, rashes, etc. I have turned to Creative Commons, which has lead me to Flickr. While many of the images in Flickr are copyrighted and not "free to use" even for education purposes, there are some there. The Flickr collection is amazing! I enjoyed looking at it. I am a bit amazed that people would make their family pix available to the world, but I'm still catching on...

LibraryThing could be very useful for creating "collections" on particular topics for instructional purposes.

I had some trouble with delicious, but once I got the hang of it, I liked it. Again, grouping by a course number tag or something similar could be very useful.

As a life-long cataloger (until recently), I think in terms of a controlled vocabulary. In fact, I am on a school committe that is building a repository of images. I wanted to suggest that the submitters use a controlled vocabulary instead of tags--which can be "inconsistent," "overlapping," "confusing." But now I'm re-thinking this. It is true that a "controlled vocabulary" can be too controlling and inflexible; it doesn't always really say what you want it to say. The rules can be "inflexible," to say the least. And it can take a LONG TIME for a subject to be authorized or revised.

I can see that some tags are re-used often enough to perhaps be considered "sort of controlled." The concept of "sort of" in reference to tags is very interesting.

Being able to add your own notes certainly is more meaningful than "trying to live MARC." Sometimes I keep a separate notebook about the things I read; simply adding notes to my LT record would be great--everything in one place!

Now I wonder: Will LC Subject Headings disappear with the dinosaurs? What IS the future of cataloging???

I did not warm up to any one service, but as the week's progressed I have learned a lot about new ways of thinking so that today I can imagine using DelIcious, Flickr, and LibraryThing in many situations at the Hyannis Library. All of the services will enable me to help our staff and our customers find information, and I am committed to utilizing any tool, traditional or new, that will help me figure out what a patron wants and find that information. I'll continue to play around with these services, and all of a sudden my brain (a very unusual information service) will get it.

I delicious could be used in a reference setting. I liked being able to store information in one place online.

I had a hard time with flickr. I still cant get my pictures on my blog, but I think it can help make library blogs and websites more personalized and informal. I think patrons want that.

I couldnt get my head around librarything . I do think it is a great way to communicate and share books and reading experiences though. I liked that there are review on it as well. I thought the book records were much more readable and practical than mark records. I like tagging very much and think it is a way of being more user friendly and practical. It is using a more natural language.

Thanks for the WotldCat Local comments, Judy! We will be implementing WCL Navigator soon to serve as a consortial virtual catalog. (Boston Library Consortium) I will look forward to checking out the "buy,borrow,swap" box and setting up a profile.

Barb

Archives and Flickr: The Library has just established an archives to capture the history of our young school (1970's) before all the founders retire and clean out their files into dumpsters! Judy, I will pass your comments and suggestions along to our Archivist. Thanks for that application.

Barb

Can you use delicious on a blog? To possible post a reading list?

So many great reflections here!

For those who are interested in using Flickr for archival use, be sure to check out the Library of Congress collection on Flickr. They have used Flickr not only to post photos from their digital collections, but also to get assistance in identifying people, locations, dates, etc. Check this photo out as an example: http://tinyurl.com/q364px. The Boston Public Library has uploaded photos and manuscripts as well. They have even had people transcribe manuscripts for them in the comments they have added to Flickr.

There was a question about how to organize photos on Flickr. Flickr is very much like a blog in that the basic organization is to display the most recent photo first. However, you can organize by adding tags to photos and then linking directly just to photos with a certain tag. You can also create something called sets. You can get to the sets by clicking on the "Organize" link along the top and selecting "Your Sets." Click on "Create a New Set." Flickr used to limit the number of sets you could create under a free account, but I believe that restriction has been lifted. For more information on what a pro account can get you, go to http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/. And if you decide to upgrade to a pro account, be sure to check out www.techsoup.org first to see if you qualify for their pricing.

Can you use delicious on a blog? I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but, if you go to my blog at http://semlskathy.wordpress.com, you will see my most recent semls20 delicious tags listed in the right sidebar. I integrated those links into the blog by using the delicious widget in WordPress.

For those who had trouble adding me as a friend on LibraryThing, please look at the last comment on the LibraryThing page for instructions. If you are logged in when you click on the link for my profile, you should be able to add me as a friend simply by clicking on the "Add to Friends" link. You do not need to go through the process of finding me by e-mail address.

For those who are having trouble adding the Flickr photo to a blog, it may be easier if I talk to you by phone to walk you through it. If you can't get Flickr to link correctly with the WordPress blog, then you should be able to add the image with the "Add an image" button when you are creating a new post in WordPress. If you would like to set up a time to talk by phone, just send me an e-mail.

Will LC Subject Headings disappear with the dinosaurs? What IS the future of cataloging???

That's a great question! I don't know if LC Subject Headings will disappear, but it seems to me there will always be a need for a controlled vocabulary. The question is how do you set up a structure for a controlled vocabulary when you are working with user-generated content where the users are the ones providing the organization. You certainly can't train all of those users on how to use a controlled vocabulary. Or do we just use the controlled vocabulary for content considered to be worthy of being organized? It will be interesting to see how it all comes together.

I haven't read the comments yet, but...I will chime in!

I think I liked Flickr the best of the three things. And I think that is because I have used both Delicious and Library Thing before, but (I confess) not to their fullest capabilities. I don't know that any one of the tools is best for library use. As someone mentioned before, delicious makes perfect sense at the Reference Desk. Flickr would be a great promotional tool to bring the library alive and share photos of events and patrons having fun. And Library Thing is an amazing resource for Readers Advisory and sharing information with readers. All of these tools make the library interactive and more real to our users (and us).

The benefit of tagging is using natural language to describe...but if the language isn't consistent, then you have to wonder what you are missing when you are on a search. I am not a cataloger, but I appreciate knowing how to read a MARC record and understand the subject headings. If I weren't a librarian, I am not sure if I would take the time to learn how to interpret the librarian language.

Both tagging and using subject headings presumes that we all think alike. I guess there is just a danger in defining things a certain way. Tagging seems to work best when you are in a closed community, either a group with the same mission or interests or goals. Subject Headings are fine, too, and I guess you could say they would work in a closed group, as well. But what works there is that the language is more consistent than user created tagging.