[Web4lib] Re: Future of libraries

[K.G. Schneider]

> In the Q&A I think I did at one point speak to whether patrons will
> tag in a catalog, and I indicated that do not, and speculated as to
> why. One reason is that much catalog use is in fact at the library,
> standing at some terminal. Another is that the user is not in the
> right frame of mind to tag-they are mostly finding stuff they haven't
> read yet, at which point both the urge to tag and the knowledge
> necessary for good tagging are absent. This is my theory about why
> library tagging programs have largely failed. (That they have failed
> is, however, not a matter for debate.)
Tagging in (large, high-use) catalogs might work if it were in the right
part of the workflow. Does Netflix ask you to rate items when you check them
out? (That's a rhetorical question. The answer is, "No.") Netflix asks you
to rate items the next time you log in after you've returned items. 

This is blindingly obvious design. If we gathered and retained enough data
to let people rate items after they turned them in, well, that would make
some sense. There is more to it than that (nothing I hate more than a bad
implementation that allows people to say, "Look, the technology doesn't
work!"), but at least then tagging would make sense. But in most systems
it's just tacked on. (I know of one implementation where the tags aren't
searchable except in advanced search, and they aren't visible until you're
logged in. In any event, there was no "design" to the tagging-it was just
tacked-on by a vendor checking off, "Yup, we offer tagging. We're '2.0.'")

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com