LibraryThing

LibraryThing is something every librarian should look at and explore. Tags and tag clouds make sense to people---much more sense than Dewey or LC. The challenge of Web 2.0 is that people want to organize information in a way that makes sense to them--they do not look to a library to do it for them.

Tagging is an intellectual challenge--as anyone who has cataloged anything knows and tag clouds provide information and insight in a new and valuable way. This is a significant change that 2.0 makes possible and that libraries must incorporate in order to make sense to their communities. People want to create their own libraries and then share them with others.

While I don't feel an overriding need to catalog the books I read and enjoy, it is interesting to tag them and then look for patterns and ranges so I probably will keep my LibraryThing account for a while.