Action for Libraries
The Internet Connection
By Michael Sauers
Yummy bookmarks
In my book Using the Internet as a Reference Tool (Neal-Schuman, Inc., 2000) I wrote about how,
instead of using bookmarks on your library's reference desk, you should create a Web page with links to
the sites you use most often to answer reference questions. This method has numerous benefits over
bookmarks, including the ability to access the links from any reference desk computer, a single method of
organization and the ability of your patrons to access your work from not only public computers at your
library, but from their home computers, too.
Now I've found there's something much better than just creating a Web page for your reference bookmarks — a service known as del.icio.us. (Yes, that's the URL, and the service is pronounced just like the word "delicious.")
Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us is one of a new breed of Web-based services known as social software. (Wikipedia describes
social software as a service that "enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-
mediated communication and to form online communities.") In the case of del.icio.us, the user creates an
account and then adds bookmarks directly into that account, adding tags (metadata) the user deems to be
appropriate.
The social aspect of del.icio.us is rooted in the fact that the service also keeps track of everyone else with a del.icio.us account who also has bookmarked the sites that you've bookmarked. In other words, you're able to view the others who have bookmarked the same sites you have bookmarked, providing you with additional reference resources.
Your patrons need only use the URL to access all of the bookmarks you've added to your library's account. The tags you've provided give your patrons subject-based access to your bookmarks. Plus patrons with more technical abilities can subscribe to an RSS feed of your account (or to just a particular keyword in your account), thereby receiving automatic notification whenever you add something new to it.
Signing up for del.icio.us is free and is already in use by at least one library in this manner that I'm aware of: the La Grange Park Public Library District in La Grange, Illinois. You can access the library's account at del.icio.us/LaGrangeParkLibrary.