Tags Make Libraries: Web 2.0 and the Profression

This article about social bookmarking and libraries from LibraryJournal.com is an excellent example of the approach we focused on during the recent workshop in Kazakhstan. What does it look like in practice?

Libraries like the Thunder Bay Public Library, Ont., and the Nashville Public Library have del.icio.us tag clouds rolled on their web site, so patrons can find information on any number of topics just by clicking on a tag. Other libraries like the College of New Jersey Library and University of Alberta Libraries experiment with del.icio.us link rolls to replace or supplement traditional subject guides and pathfinders.

But why is using social bookmarking tools better than traditional pathfinders and subject guides? It lowers barriers for participation, both for library patrons and staff. Tasha Saecker, director of the Menasha Public Library, WI, notes that del.icio.us helps “less tech-savvy librarians have an equal voice in the collection,” instead of having one or two librarians editing a static web page.

This bottom-up revolution for the catalogues may be just what librarians need to bring the patrons back into the libraries, or at least library web sites. Though better still would be to take the best of old and new. While Web 2.0 harnesses heretofore untapped power of users distributed throughout a network, there remains an integrative role for expert information professionals. The challenge will be to find bridge applications and platforms that hybridize the best of expert and lay opinion in a seamless, flexible and usable manner.