LibraryThing
posted by laura @ 2:07 PM
6 comments
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Monday, May 15, 2006
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6 Comments:
I wish I could understand the entire process of the Library Thing. I'm going to play around with it a bit. Anyone who's had experience with it, can you let me know how it worked out for you? And do you have a preference for tags or subject headings?
From what I have seen, I think LibraryThing is very cool. As a former copy cataloger, I also realize the need for strict cataloging rules and can see where "tags" could make alot of librarians and catalogers nervous. As a matter of fact, I'm a little jittery just thinking about it! :) I've often wondered if the public "gets" subject headings. Maybe something like "tags" would make more sense to "non library" folk.
I use LibraryThing; I've listed almost 1,300 titles so far. It's very handy for keeping what I've read, what I own, and what I've borrowed all organized.
I use tags because I can use terms like 'wishlist' or 'tbr' that make sense to me. Using tags is a carryover from sites like flickr also.
The difference between tags and subject headings was part of the presentation I made at OLC-Southwest. For the foreseeable future, both are necessary for full access.
Of course, the kind of personal tags and shorthands that Laura mentioned have limited effectiveness for a library, but more general terms that might not duplicate LC subject headings are pretty important for our users. That's why we have been much more attentive to the inclusion of table of contents info and summary descriptions for fiction, both of which are keyword accessible.
Aaron makes a lot of sense. Are any of you familiar with the trend towards library catalogs doing subject connections as a kind of word web? The product that springs to my mind is Aqua Browser (TLC). From what I remember it seems to be a combination of tags and subject headings. But what I really like is that it's presented in a "mind map" format (or what someone else would call a web) Go take a look at the product (You can find it on the website of the Lexington Kentucky PL) and let me know what you think. Aaron and Melanie especially, tell me how it fits into this particular discussion.
Lexington's ThoroBrowser (Aqua Browser) struck me as similar to this site:
http://www.literature-map.com/
when I first saw it a few months ago, and now I see that it's the identical product.
If you use the link above, you get a more dynamic floating display when you do a search, with the caveat that relatively few authors are indexed.
Recent word is that many library systems (including Innovative) are beginning to incorporate fuzzy search capabilities: spell-check, a la Google, with correction suggestions; even thesaurus databases which suggest other possible words when a search is input.
Both synthetic (Aqua Browser) and specific (term suggestions) depend on record quality and content to function well, in addition to the mapping that makes them work. I guess we need to keep cataloging ...
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