Comments on: Tuesday Thingers: Tags

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:18:20 +0000

Laura, it was interesting to see that you use tags to help decide whether or not you want to read it. I tested this with two books in my LT library, and found that it does give a good overview, if there are enough tags to get a fair cross-section.

The first book was The Wishing Year; most of the tags were along the lines of “early reviewer”, “arc”, “tbr” and weren’t that helpful. This book hasn’t yet been released; I chose it intentionally.

The second book has been out for a while, Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. The big tags on that include “French Revolution”, “Marie Antionette”, “Versailles”, “historical fiction” and “Louis XVI”. We had more books in LT across the board, more tags, and a more *true* sampling.

Experiments with book tags, not nearly as dangerous as chemistry class!

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:25:31 +0000

I love the comparison to kitchen organization, even though my kitchen’s organization would baffle some people (and does – frequently; my fiance’s mother just can’t figure out where we put our cups… every time she comes over).

I think it would be good to somehow get suggestions as to what to tag it. Seeing what others have tagged the books most has sometimes altered how I tag books. It has also helped me decide whether I want to read a book or not. Book summaries are not always helpful in discerning genre.

By: Bluestocking

Bluestocking — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:51:40 +0000

I created a separate index page because iweb doesn’t do tags.

By: kegsoccer

kegsoccer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:14:08 +0000

Wow that’s an awesome idea. I’d love a drop-down box

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:16:53 +0000

I don’t know of any libraries doing this, but, especially for an academic library it does seem to make sense.

There are a number of librarians on the LT boards; try posting your question to the LT Tuesday Thingers group, I imagine you’ll get some feedback from other librarians. I’ll look forward to reading the “yeas” and “nays” (a friendly debate, I hope!)

By: LibrarysCat

LibrarysCat — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:05:37 +0000

This is such an interesting and timely topic. Academic libraries are considering allowing students tags to the catalog. I think it is a great idea because I am a front-line person and I want the person to find books based on their own understanding or words. Our catalogers are not so much on board – all they can see is frivilous and often what they might see as irrelevant subjects attached! Do any of you know of a library already doing this?

LibrarysCat

By: Jacquie Reaville (The Book Imp)

Jacquie Reaville (The Book Imp) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:31:58 +0000

I was about to mention the html code but Marie beat me to it! I think I might do a thread in the Tuesday Thingers group on LT for helpful html. So anyone else with ideas can post there too.

I like the way you use your private comments, I use them for when and where I bought the book and how much it cost me and if it is used or new. If I ever get around to an author reading or signing then I know where I’ll be posting that info now.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:19:21 +0000

Yes, thank you, Marie! I knew I had seen it *somewhere*! I’ll go back and print out that code; I’m sure it’s quite straightforward once I learn the pattern.

It’s interesting to see the types of tage we used, and how we use them. There is quite a bit of “common ground.”

LisaLynne, I use the “historical fiction” theme too, and have other tags (“time travel” for _Time and Again_ … clearly fiction!) that also more clearly define my fiction collection.

That got me curious, only 1 book tagged “time travel” … I have 30 single-use tags at the moment.

By: marie

marie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:52:32 +0000

i like your kitchen analogy- very apt. there’s a great message in the Blog-Book-Ring thread in the ER group on LT about formatting your html text, written by BookImp, if you still need help on that.

By: bookroomreviews

bookroomreviews — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:57:24 +0000

very helpful post for me, I will use your insights:) tracy