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Yan Yi Lee, Wagner College, NY, USA Sharon Q. Yang, Rider University, NJ, USA

Folksonomies as Subject Access A Survey of Tagging in Library Online Catalogs and Discovery Layers. IFLA Satellite Post-Conference: Beyond libraries – subject metadata in the digital environment and semantic web 17-18 August 2012, Tallinn. Yan Yi Lee, Wagner College, NY, USA

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Yan Yi Lee, Wagner College, NY, USA Sharon Q. Yang, Rider University, NJ, USA

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  1. Folksonomies as Subject AccessA Survey of Tagging in Library Online Catalogs and Discovery Layers IFLA Satellite Post-Conference: Beyond libraries – subject metadata in the digital environment and semantic web 17-18 August 2012, Tallinn Yan Yi Lee, Wagner College, NY, USA Sharon Q. Yang, Rider University, NJ, USA

  2. Overview • Introduction • What is folksonomy? • Is folksonomy useful as subject access? • Survey-purpose and methodology • Findings and discussion • Conclusion

  3. What is Folksonomy? • Taxonomy + folk = folksonomy • Classification of resources by users • Describe resources in users’ own language • Tags and tag clouds are folksonomy

  4. Example of Tag Cloud Arcadia Public Library (Arcadia, California) - Feb12, 2012

  5. Folksonomy as Subject Access? Past research compared LCSH with folksonomy in LibraryThing: • Up to 60% of the folksonomy duplicate LCSH. • A small percentage comprises useless tags • Tags use different terms than LCSH • Tags cover more aspect of a book’s subject • 20% to 30% can provide additional access to library collections

  6. So the Questions are… • How do library systems handle folksonomy? • How do libraries handle folksonomy when given the capability? • How do users handle folksonomy when given the opportunity?

  7. Methodology Systems (Marshall Breeding’s Library Technology Guide) • Discovery layers (15) • OAPC of Integrated Library System (37) Libraries • Koha OPACs (307) Users • Koha OPACS (307)

  8. Discovery Tools & Tagging The survey checked all the major discovery tools • 47% Discovery Tools allow users to add tags • 40% can display Tag list • 33% can display a tag cloud • 27% can display both • 47% execute a new search • 20% narrow a search

  9. 15 Discovery Tools & Tagging

  10. Integrated Library Systems and Tagging • The survey includes 37 Major Integrated Library Systems (ILSs) - Tagging function in ILS - Tag could or tag list in OPAC, or both - Tag to start a new search - Tag to refine a search result

  11. 37 ILSs & Tagging

  12. 37 ILSs & Tagging - continued

  13. Integrated Library Systems and Tagging - continued • Only 2 out of 37 ILSs allow Tagging – Koha & Genesis G3 (5% ILSs) • Koha is the only ILS has tag cloud in the online catalog (OPAC) • Koha uses tags to enhance subject access • None ILS uses tags to refine search results

  14. Libraries & Tagging • Take Koha as an example ILS for the survey • Koha - Open Source Integrated Library System, created in 1999 • A survey of tagging activities in 307 Koha implementers - 218 public libraries - 62 academic libraries - 27 school libraries

  15. Libraries & Tagging - continued • All tags in Koha Tag Cloud are created by users • Users can create tags in Koha for private or public • Tags were proved by librarians before adding to Cloud for public • External dictionary in Koha – a whitelist to verify terms added by users

  16. Tagging in 307 Koha OPACs

  17. Tagging in 307 Koha OPACs - continued

  18. Tagging in 307 Koha OPACs - continued • 149 out of 307 libraries encourage users to add tags to OPACs (51%) • Academic libraries: nearly 58% enabled • Public libraries: 49% enabled • School libraries: 22% enabled

  19. Users & Tagging • How much did users take advantage of Tagging? • Tag clouds grouped into 4 categories - Large cloud (over 50 tags) - Small cloud (Less than 50 tags) - Empty cloud (Tagging turned on, but no tags) - No cloud (Tagging turned off)

  20. Users & Tagging - continued

  21. A Test of Tagging • Tag Cloud in Wagner College Koha OPAC – a test (Sandbox) • Tags are simple terms created by students in their own language • Some tags are closer to subject headings • Searching by tags only retrieve limited titles tag “microbiology” => 3 titles subject “microbiology” => 262 titles

  22. Tag Cloud in Wagner College Koha OPAC

  23. Conclusion - Think outside the box • More systems need to include tagging capability in design (47% in discovery layers vs. 5% in ILS) • All libraries should give users the opportunity to tag (49% enabled) • Find innovative ways to encourage users to participate in tagging

  24. Food for Thought More research is needed for • Why public library users are more active in tagging? • Better subject access to combine user contributed tagging and keyword extraction into one tag cloud? • How to link/map LCSH to user contributed tags?

  25. Questions and Answers

  26. Credits Breeding, M. (2012). Guides: Resources and content on relevant topics. In Library technology guides: Key resources in the field of library automation [This site has comprehensive listings of Integrated Library Systems and discovery tools]. Retrieved March 6, 2012, from http://www.librarytechnology.org/web/Breeding/guides/ Kwan, Y., & Lois Mai, C. (2009). Linking folksonomy to Library of Congress subject headings: an exploratory study. Journal Of Documentation, 65(6), 872-900. Liu, C., Park, J., & Hu, X. (2010). User tags versus expert-assigned subject terms: A comparison Of LibraryThing tags and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Journal Of Information Science, 36(6), 763-779. doi:10.1177/0165551510386173 Rolla, P. J. (2009). User Tags versus Subject Headings: Can User-Supplied Data Improve Subject Access to Library Collections?. Library Resources & Technical Services, 53(3), 174-184. Wetterstrom, M. (2008). The Complementarity of Tags and LCSH — A Tagging Experiment And Investigation into Added Value in a New Zealand Library Context. New Zealand Library & Information Management Journal, 50(4), 296-310. Yi, K., & Chan, L. (2009). Linking folksonomy to Library of Congress subject headings: an exploratory study. Journal Of Documentation, 65(6), 872-900.

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