Thing 15: 2.0 Reflections

Because of my newfound enthusiasm for del.icio.us (and oldfound enthusiasm for the word "folksonomy"), I read the article "Tagging & Social Bookmarking" in the September/October 2007 edition of Library Technology Reports.

I love the collaborative nature of tagging, how it's something you can do at home in your PJs, yet it might help someone on the other side of the country find just what they were looking for. That said, I think a totally awesome use of tagging highlighted in the article is in readers advisory and how the tags you apply to a book might help someone else discover and enjoy that book.

I'm intrigued by the idea of integrating the RA function into a library's catalog, rather than having it as a seperate blog on the Web site. What if patrons were able to log in to their library accounts and tag items held by the library? Or even rate them, like people do on Amazon.com (possibly my favorite Web site and the standard I hold everything else to)? Yes, I realize that in application this could possibly open a very very large can of worms, but as I said, it's an intriguing idea. I already think a library catalog should basically look just like Amazon, complete with pictures of the book/DVD/CD/whatever, links to similar items, reviews, etc. Yes, I think that in part because I love Amazon so much, but it's also because that is what a lot of users are coming to expect from technology. If Amazon can offer them a full buffet of information, why can't the library?

Thing 13: Delicious & Nutritious, Tastes Just Like Chicken

I've enjoyed the 12 "things" I've done so far and have thought of useful applications of the 2.0 technologies in my library, but del.icio.us is the first thing to make a lightbulb go off over my head cartoon-style.

I use seven different computers at the Pflugerville Community Library. Yes, you read that correctly. Sometimes I even use all seven in a single day. It just depends on what I'm working on. I also regularly access Web sites that can only be properly viewed with Internet Explorer (you'd think, it being nearly 2009 and all, that those sites would get with the Firefox program). I often get frustrated at not having my bookmarks at six of the seven computers and at having to open two different browsers to find all of my bookmarks. Obviously, del.icio.us can't solve the problem of me having to use two browsers, but at least I could just go to one place when I'm looking up a web address for a colleague or patron, etc. I can't believe I had never thought of using del.icio.us before!

Not only do I think del.icio.us is a great solution for me as I hop from computer to computer, but I also think a library account could be a really useful collaborative tool among the staff. People could add useful sites as they found them and they'd be accessible to the rest of the staff immediately. No more "oh, I know Becca has a really useful readers advisory site she likes, but I can't think of what it is" or "can you remember the address of the Travis County Web site?" Brilliant!

I'm so enamored of del.icio.us now that I'm even considering overcoming my aforementioned anxiety about creating new accounts to set up a personal account.