Friday, April 8, 2011

Beyond--Method #5 Tag, you’re it! Social Cataloging and Libraries

I have heard and read about social cataloging since I took my library classes several years ago. At the time, there was some discussion about whether or not patrons should be allowed to add tags to MARC records. There were good arguments on both sides, but I tend to think that MARC records should maintain the (more or less) standardized form that they have. The services featured in this section seem to be a great compromise between having good library records and allowing patrons to tag books with terms that are useful and meaningful to them.

I have used LibraryThing (trying to catalog the music in my church music library) and Shelfari (on my library website). I had heard about Goodreads, but I had not looked at it. I signed up for a Goodreads account. The book quiz was interesting.

One of the Shelfari pages on my library website



I do think that libraries could use the services described in this step. The sites are fun to use and offer a lot of information and posibililties for interaction about books.




Time spent on Method #5--approximately 1.5 hours.

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