What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

You may have heard about tagging (AKA folksonomies). If you’re a cataloger, the whole concept might give you nightmares. So, before we even delve into what tagging is, let’s preface the discussion with this: tagging does not replace cataloging. It is a supplement; an additional way to get metadata that may help the end user retrieve the data.

Ok, back to basics. Tagging is actually very simple; it is simply the act of assigning keywords to something. When I demonstrate at conferences, I like to hold up an object, like a bottle of water, and I ask the audience to shout out one-word descriptors (keywords) for it. A short list might include:

“Wet”
“Plastic”
“Bottle”
“Labeled”
“Cold”
“Clear”

Now, I am definitely not a cataloger, but I’m willing to bet that none of those keywords (tags) are in either the Dewey or LC classification schemes. But it’s an example of tagging at work. People see something, and assign descriptive keywords as they see fit.

Why is this useful? (Here’s the example I use every time I explain this, wherever I go, so thank you in advance for your patience.) When I first started working in a public library (pre-MLS), I was put out at the reference desk to answer questions (yes, I got training first!). One of the first questions I got was from a woman wanting a book on Polish cooking. So, naive new assistant that I was, what did I type into the OPAC?

“Cookbooks.”

I can laugh now, but at the time I was horrified to discover that you could not actually find cookbooks in an OPAC by calling them what they were. (And “Cookery” is ever so intuitive, right?). A librarian stepped in to assist and all was well. But imagine if you could not only find things through an official classification system, but also through tags people had assigned? What if the OPAC had been able to retrieve items tagged as “polishcooking?”

Imagine no more. Tagging is now a common feature of many web services, including Flickr and del.icio.us (posts for another day). Try searching Flickr for “publiclibrary.” You’ll see some fascinating photos from around the world of public libraries.

Tagging is just another way to provide metadata (data about data) to patrons, and often it can actually engage patrons in the process. Allowing users to assigning keywords to items makes them part of the community. Amazon has made a science out of engaging its users; check out this tag cloud of the most popular tags by their users.

SO, WHAT DOES TAGGING MEAN TO ME, LAURA?

Tagging does not replace cataloging. It is a supplemental way to create metadata.
Allowing users to tag items, posts, comments, etc. is a great way to involve people and make them feel part of a site’s community.
Tags can often provide more intuitive ways to get to a specific type of item, but not always. Tags are created arbitrarily and there is no authority control for terms.
Tags can create very nifty ways to visually browse a collection and easily determine popularity of items via tag clouds.

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Everyone has at least one; that person (friend, family member or coworker) who thinks they have to forward every last joke, LOLCat photo or (usually fake) virus warning to absolutely everyone in their address book. And, often they have no clue about how to use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field, so that people you don’t even know now have your email address, to boot. I am sincerely hoping that none of you are that person. If you are, please don’t tell me; just stop and all will be forgiven.

However much we might like these people, it can be difficult to explain that they are wasting our time or sending bad information (be sure to check all virus warnings at Snopes.com). We don’t want to hurt their feelings. My own experiences with this sort of thing have been difficult; not long ago, Friend #1 was sending all sorts of things to everyone in her address book and she was one of those people who didn’t know how to use the BCC field. As a result, my email address was exposed to an awful lot of people I didn’t know. Rather than confronting her, I automatically started filtering everything she sent into my junk folder. I casually mentioned this to Friend #2, who may have passed this on to Friend #1; guess who gets ZERO email from Friend #1 now? Ok, yes, I’m a geek. Personal relationships are hard.

But, there is hope for others. Merlin Mann, the creator of the famous 43 Folders site, has created a page you can send to these folks. Called Thanks. No, it explains tactfully to your erring friend/family member/coworker in a non-confrontational way that you would prefer not to get any more emails like the one you just received from them. I wish I’d had this earlier. No guarantees that my friend still wouldn’t be offended, but at least it would have softened the blow.

If you’d like more resources for dealing with email Netiquette, check out this article at Lifehacker.

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There are seemingly a million Web 2.0 applications out there. You wouldn’t believe how many are popping up daily–just add Mashable to your RSS reader (you’ve got one, right??) to keep up with the latest. Twitter started out as one of the masses, but since 2007 has risen to the top as one of the most popular . Twitter has often been called “microblogging” or even “instant messaging on crack.” Neither one really explains what it is.

I have often told the story of how I got started with Twitter, but I’ll repeat it here. When I first took a look at it in early 2007, I honestly thought it was the dumbest thing I’d ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of web apps! All it does is ask you to answer the question “What are you doing?” You can answer this question at any time you feel like it. But you’ve only got 140 characters or less. I saw this and thought “What’s the point? Someone, who is wiser than I, told me to stick with it and I’d get it. Because I respected their opinion, I did “stick with it,” although with great reservation. And I’m glad I did…because now I “get it” and I’m here to pass what I learned on to you.

First, and perhaps most importantly, what Twitter can do for you and/or your library is not immediately apparent. It’s not promoted in a way that makes it easy to grasp. But Twitter allows you to send short messages to lots of people at one time–in a way that the end user chooses. Users (or “followers,” in Twitter usage), can choose to receive your “tweets” (messages) either via the Twitter web site, instant messaging, browser plug-ins, desktop applications, RSS or even–hold on to your hats here–cell phones (and this is why there is the 140 character limit on tweets–most cells don’t take more than that). We are increasingly aware that providing information via mobile devices is becoming a required component of web services. Here’s an easy, free way to send info to people who follow you/your library. Maybe they will follow using an RSS feed. Maybe on their cell phones. You’ll never know. But that doesn’t matter; what really matters is that the person has a choice, and that choice includes enough options to not leave even the most gadget-happy behind.

Two libraries are using this to their advantage in Ohio; Cleveland Public Library and Westerville Public Library. You can also check out OPLIN’s Twitter feed or my own. What are libraries doing? Using Twitter for public relations and promotion. Got an event coming up? Remind people using Twitter. Just be sure that you’re promoting your Twitter account outside of Twitter, just like you promote your library’s blog, Flickr account or whatnot. People who want to follow your library will need to have a Twitter account of their own to do so; also easy, also free, and chances are good that you will discover quickly that people are already out there on Twitter who are patrons of your library.

So…what are you doing?

(And here’s the Common Craft video to help out)

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RSS (usually standing for “Really Simple Syndication”), is crucial to your career.

No, really, I mean it. After all, if you’re a librarian, keeping up with information and current events is your job.

Think of it like this: New stuff happens all the time. In technology, new stuff is happening every minute. Who can keep up with all that?? Nobody. (And, if they tell you they can, they’re lying…bet on it.) The best most of us mere mortals can do is try to keep up using an RSS aggregator, more commonly known as a feed reader. We subscribe to information feeds from our favorite sites, and all of the information from those sites comes directly to our feed reader. We don’t have to check a site to know if something new has appeared; it comes to us. Would you rather pick up the pizza or have it delivered? I thought so. Especially if you want different pizzas from different pizza shops all at the same time.

Do you only check one single website regularly for news? Then you can skip RSS. For the rest of us who are making heroic attempts to stay informed, here’s how it works:

There are literally hundreds of different kinds of feed readers. Make your life easy. If you already have a Gmail account, use Google Reader, which integrates right into it. Otherwise, get a Bloglines account (or a Google Reader account, you don’t have to use Gmail). Both are free and extremely easy to sign up for. Did I mention free and easy? Ok, just checking.
Go to your favorite site. Look for something that looks like this:
<–Standard RSS icon

(Alternatively, it might be a button that says “Subscribe” or “XML” or “RSS” The picture you see, above, is the techically-correct icon, but not everyone has figured this out yet. Be patient.) Keep in mind that not every site or blog has an RSS feed available. There’s a way around that, but that’s for another day.
Click the button, whatever it looks like. DO NOT PANIC.
Depending on what browser you use, you will see either something that looks like an orderly list of the latest news from that site, or you will see XML code. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. All you care about is the URL of the page you just landed on. Copy it.
Go back to your feed reader. Somewhere, will be a link that says something like “Add subscription” or “add feed.” Click it. Paste the URL you just copied into the field that asks for the URL. You will likely be asked for other things, like if you want to keep it private (so other people can’t see you subscribe to it.) Choose whatever you’d like for these other settings. You can always change them later. Click the final “submit” type button, and now you’re subscribed to the RSS feed for that site.
The new items from that site will now be available via the reader. You should see the name of the feed appear in the list (usually to the left), and chances are good that the title is in bold and there’s a number next to it; the number tells you how many unread items for that particular site.
Repeat for other sites and blogs you want to keep up with. Need some suggestions? Check out the blogroll to the left of this post. (The main OPLIN site will have RSS after June 30, but the rest all do now).