#8 & #9 Tagging, Tagging, Tagging.....

It's gotta be said that these technologies are pretty cool. The ability to bookmark on the web and 'take them with you' so to speak is very useful. Still not entirely convinced about the 'sharing' thing.....probably just a personality trait.....I have issues with privacy.....I'm sure it is something that we will all get used to eventually, but I think any of the generations apart from the young probably still feel a little uneasy about this issue, think "Australia card". So the tagging thing is obviously fantastic for finding other bookmarked sites on a particular topic. Likewise, The Library Thing is a fantastic resource for finding books on a topic as well, and even though I believe in standards and bibliographic control, being able to type in a subject that actually makes sense (ie not Library of Congress Subject headings) makes searching very easy. I typed in "Books about Books" and found lots of hits. This is a general term that people use to refer to any books about books or the book trade. In our library catalogue, there are headings like Books -- Europe -- Storage -- History, Shelving for books -- History, or how about Rare books -- Australia -- Bibliography. So I think tagging is great for this popular searching. The fact that so many people have put their collections onto Library Thing is pretty amazing, I don't know if I'd have the time or the inclination (the privacy thing again) but I certainly do like it. The other major worry about all this web stuff for me is that all the info is sitting on some server somewhere and if the company folds etc, it can all be lost. The thought of doing all that work and losing it all is freaky. All up these technologies are very useful and I'm sure can be applied in libraries.