Collective tagging and libraries

Članak se bavi fenomenom naglog širenja društvenog označivanja, te njegovog utjecaja na knjižničnu zajednicu. Pod društvenim označivanjem podrazumijeva se organizacijska metoda uz pomoć koje se mrežni sadržaji, čiji broj sve više raste, nastoje organizirati, sačuvati, pretražiti i razmijeniti. Krajnji korisnici u postupku društvenog označivanja indeksiraju mrežne sadržaje (omiljene poveznice, mrežne stranice, online fotografije, video zapise itd.) dodjeljujući im ključne riječi /oznake, koji svi zajedno čine folksonomiju. Rad donosi usporedbu tradicionalnoga predmetnog označivanja s društvenim označivanjem, osvrćući se na njihove prednosti i nedostatke, te izlaže, uz primjere, mogućnosti poboljšanja folksonomije uz pomoć taksonomije. U drugom djelu članka ukratko su opisane neke od najpoznatijih mrežnih službi koje omogućuju društveno označivanje (Delicious, Library Thing, Flickr) te neke knjižnice koje svojim korisnicima nude mogućnost društvenog označivanja knjižničnog fonda na mreži. Zaključeno je da društveno označivanje ne može zamijeniti postojeća stručna pomagala i metode organizacije znanja, ali ih može nadopuniti, te tako doprinijeti boljoj organizaciji i dostupnosti sadržaja na mreži.The article deals with the rapidly spreading phenomenon of collective tagging and its impact on library community. The term collective tagging implies the method of organization which is used in order to organize, preserve, search, and exchange the constantly increasing number of web resources. In the process of collective tagging the end-users are those who index web resources (favorite links, websites, online photographs, videos, etc.) by adding key words/tags which constitute folksonomies. The article draws a comparison between traditional subject indexing and collective tagging with reference to their advantages and disadvantages, and presents, with examples, the possibilities to improve folksonomy with the help of taxonomy. The second part of the article briefly describes some of the best-known web services which provide collective tagging (Delicious, Library Thing, Flickr) as well as some libraries which provide their users with the option of online collective tagging of library holdings. It is concluded that although collective tagging cannot replace the already existing professional tools and methods of organizing knowledge, it can serve as their supplement, thus contributing to better organization and availability of web resources

Tag, You’re It: Enhancing Access to Graphic Novels

Current users of academic libraries are avid readers of graphic novels. These thought-provoking materials are used for leisure reading, in instruction, and for research purposes. Libraries need to take care in providing access to these resources. This study analyzed the cataloging practices and social tagging of a specific list of graphic novel titles in the academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Results found that of the 668 graphic novel records 68 (10.17 percent) used the genre heading “graphic novel” and 99 (14.8 percent) were tagged. This limited access could be improved by using social tagging and genre heading

"Reading Rants!": Exploring the Design and Implementation of a Social Cataloging Tool for Teens

In this paper we explore the possibility of creating and implementing an interactive library OPAC interface, called Reading Rants!, that would be designed for and used exclusively by teens. An interactive interface such as Reading Rants! would allow teenagers to interact with their library catalog by contributing content to bibliographic records. Content creation is an integral aspect of the Web 2.0 experience; it transforms the user\u27s experience with the catalog into a dynamic conversation. By providing this highly valued service for teenagers, public libraries would elevate their worth to future library supporters and become more essential to and embedded in the community

A cautious partnership: The growing acceptance of folksonomy as a complement to indexing digital images and catalogs

As archives and museums place their photographic collections on the Web, the cost and time of indexing and assigning metadata to these images grows. One potential solution is to allow users to assign metadata to images, a practice known as folksonomy. While detractors label folksonomy as imprecise, sloppy, and overly focused on the needs of individual users, proponents applaud it as being directly tied to users\u27 vocabularies, inexpensive, and a means of directly engaging users. Suggestions for improvements to folksonomy include providing more structure to the tags users can supply, allowing feedback on user supplied tags, and even turning the assignment of metadata into a cooperative online game. Despite limited data on its effectiveness in generating terms relevant to user searches, folksonomy was advocated by the Library of Congress in 2008, and is beginning to be implemented by some libraries as a supplement to their OPAC for users accustomed to searching through Web engines. This paper discusses whether folksonomy can be seen as a substitute for traditional indexing and cataloging methods

A domain-analytic perspective on sexual health in LCSH and RVM

This paper analyses and compares the treatment of sexual health in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Répertoire de vedettes-matière de l’Université Laval (RVM) using three of Bowker and Star’s (1999) infrastructural inversion techniques: practical politics, convergence, and resistance. Our findings reveal that neither LCSH nor RVM offer a holistic representation of sexual health (practical politics), that LCSH’s topical representation of sexual health limits access to relevant material (convergence), and that the enhancement of LCSH through user-added content could improve but not replace these systems (resistance)

Context Entities of Flickr Tags: Classes of Information Captured by Social Tagging

This study explores the content entities, or classes of information, captured by tags assigned to images posted to Flickr's The Commons site. Seven institutions participating in The Commons were examined: The New York Public Library, The Washington, D.C. Public Library, The University of Washington, Michigan State University, Cornell University, The Field Museum, and the George Eastman House. Tables that collected tags from these institutions and their subsequently assigned context entities revealed the kind of information expressed by users of Flickr's social tagging site. Through a review of the literature and by examining data from Web traffic sites, it is shown that tagging is a popular form of describing images and that professionals across information fields generally accept it as a supplement to access points created by controlled vocabularies. From an analysis of Flickr tags, it is shown that objects and places are the most common contextual entities captured by user-generated tags. By implication, it is suggested what gaps in contextual entities professionals should fill for users, and vice-versa. This paper concludes with suggested improvements for the study and areas where social tagging will continue to engage and empower users of image sites and other services compatible with tagging functionality

Consumidores de información y descripción de documentos: las etiquetas de los usuarios en los catálogos de bibliotecas

P. 117-128Se describe el uso de las etiquetas en los catálogos de biblioteca