Number 14: LibraryThing

23 Things asks:

• How can you use LibraryThing for your library?
• How else do you share booklists, etc. with library patrons? Would LibraryThing offer an alternative?

Behold, the only LibraryThing widget I could get to work on this blog, I don't know why:

So that will link you to the mini-catalog I created.

I had poked around on LibraryThing way back in the day when it first started. It's improved a lot since then! It seems like the kind of thing I could get sucked into. If only they had a widget that let you print out call number labels for your personal library...

As for its use in libraries... I am undecided. I suppose it would be helpful for creating booklists, but how do you get it out of LibraryThing? I couldn't find a widget or tool that would extrapolate your information into a list.

Number 11: Tagging

23 Things asks:

• Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?
• How can your library or media center take advantage of tagging and del.icio.us?

I do not like http://delicious.com/. It just seems like a big fat mess to me. I understand tagging, and why it's beneficial for things like this here blog (and you'll see that I've been tagging all of my entries), but this? It's like a really unorganized search engine. If I'm looking to browse a particular category or topic on the web, I'll go to Google and search for it that way. Looking up individual tags on this website isn't nearly as thorough. I suppose that it could be useful as a way to store your own personal bookmarks. But couldn't you also just save them in your email? Or something? Boo.

I don't know why I dislike it this much. It just doesn't sit well with me for some reason. Maybe it's the design of the site itself. It's bland. And ugly to look at.

I also have mixed thoughts on user-generated tagging in libraries. I think it has the potential to get messy.