Unit 8 - The Job of Organizing

Assignment:

Organizing books and materials used to be in the domain of professionally trained catalogers and indexers. Now, through Web 2.0, it is in the hands of everyday "folk." What are the implications of this trend for librarians? Also, for additional food for thought, go to your Delicious site and examine your list of tags. In your opinion, are these tags more or less helpful than traditional subject headings?

I agree with Casey who states, “(d)esigners of library catalogs often make the mistake of asking librarians what features are most important to library users, when in fact librarians have fundamentally different needs than the vast majority of end users…what customers really want[ed] [i]s relevancy ranking of results” (Courtney, 2007, p. 15). Just as catalog designers were slow to respond to what library patrons desired regarding ranking of results, many catalogers and indexers do not agree that library patrons’ need to take more ownership in how information is accessed. For example, although many of today’s end users intuitively search with natural language, many catalogs do not operate in that manner. Neither do they offer spell check. Casey lists several additional necessary ingredients for “Catalog 2.0” including a choice of search options such as title, author and title keyword; browsing by category; advanced search options, links to professional/customer-written reviews and blogs as well as user-added tags (Courtney, 2007, pp. 18-20).

With the advent of Web 2.0, users expect the web to be a two-way connection, one of interconnectivity and collaboration, offering user-created content in a rapidly changing environment. Allowing the end-user to contribute to tagging information and resources helps to satisfy this end-user expectation. For example, if only traditional subject headings were allowed, the tags for the website “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – Underwater Location in Google Earth” would most likely not include “collaboration,” “problem solving skills,” “journaling,” and “education.” However, as a 6^th grade science educator, I realize the significance of relating these terms to that particular website. Obviously, catalogers and indexers cannot thoroughly read nor explore every print/digital information item/resource. In my opinion, end-users who actually utilize the information item/resource are just as knowledgeable of the subject matter and capable of assigning tags as the professionals, if not more so. The idea of the “expert” librarian who solely determines the points of access for today’s information is about as current as 8-tracks and cassette tapes. In today’s information environment, it’s the network of individuals working separately, yet as a whole entity, to collaboratively contribute to Web 2.0 content that puts the “2.0” into “Web 2.0.”