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, USASharon Q. Yang, Rider University, NJ, USA

Overview

1. Introduction– What is folksonomy?– Is folksonomy useful as subject access?

2. Survey-purpose and methodology3. Findings and discussion4. Conclusion

What is Folksonomy?

• Taxonomy + folk = folksonomy• Classification of resources by users• Describe resources in users’ own language• Tags and tag clouds are folksonomy

Tags & Tag Cloud

• Keywords created by users called “tags”• Each tag is a link• Tags accumulate into a cloud• Tag Cloud - A visual subject classification scheme - Font and size show which tags are more

popular

Example of Tag Cloud

Tag Cloud in test OPAC of Wagner College Library

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

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?

Methodology

Systems (Marshall Breeding’s Technology Guide)– Discovery layers (15)– OAPC of Integrated Library System (37)

Libraries– Koha OPACs (307)

Users– Koha OPACS (307)

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

15 Discovery Tools & Tagging

Systems Allow Users to add tags

Tag Cloud Tag list Tag to start a new search

Tag to refine a search

1 AquaBrowser Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

2 AXIELL ARENA No No No No No

3 Blacklight No No No No No

4 Biblio Commons Yes No Yes Yes Yes

5 EBSCO Discover Service No No No No No

6 Encore Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

7 Endeca No No No No No

8 Enterprise No No No No No

9 Primo Yes Yes Yes Yes No

10 Scriblio No No No No No

11 Summon No No No No No

12 SOPAC Yes Yes No Yes No

13 Visualizer No No No No No

14 VuFind Yes No Yes Yes No

15 WorldCat Local Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Total 47% 33% 40% 47% 20%

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

37 ILSs & TaggingLibrary Automation System Allow Users to add tags Tag Cloud Tag List Tag to start a new search Tag to refine a search

Agent VERSO No No No No No

Aleph 500 No No No No No

Alexandria No No No No No

Amlib No No No No No

Apollo No No No No No

Athena No No No No No

Atriuum No No No No No

Carl.X No No No No No

Circulation Plus No No No No No

Concourse No No No No No

DB/TextWorks No No No No No

Destiny No No No No No

Dynix No No No No No

EOS Web No No No No No

Evergreen No No No No No

Evolve No No No No No

Genesis G3 Yes No No No No

GLAS No No No No No

37 ILSs & Tagging - continued

Horizon No No No No No

InfoCentre No No No No No

Innopac No No No No No

Koha Yes Yes No Yes No

Liberty3 No No No No No

Library Solution No No No No No

LibraryWorld No No No No No

Mandarin M3 No No No No No

Millennium No No No No No

OPALS No No No No No

Polaris No No No No No

Portfolio No No No No No

ResourceMate No No No No No

Spydus No No No No No

Unicorn (Symphony) No No No No No

Virtua No No No No No

Voyager No No No No No

Vubis Smart No No No No No

Winnebago Spectrum No No No No No

Total 5.41% 2.70% 0.00% 2.70% 0.00%

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 it’s online catalog (OPAC)

• Koha uses tags to enhance subject access• None ILS uses tags to refine search results

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

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

Tagging in 307 Koha OPACs

Public Academic School 0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Percentage (Tags Enabled) Percentage (Tags Disabled)

Tagging in 307 Koha OPACs - continued

Library Type Total Libraries

Total Libraries

(Tags Enabled)

Percentage (Tags

Enabled)

Total Libraries

(Tags Disabled)

Percentage (Tags

Disabled)

Public218 107 49.08% 111 50.92%

Academic62 36 58.06% 26 41.94%

School27 6 22.22% 21 77.78%

All Libraries 307 149 48.53% 158 51.47%

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

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)

Users & Tagging - continued

Public Academic School 0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Percentage (> 50 tags) Percentage (< 50 tags) Percentage (no tags)Percentage (tags disabled)

Users & Tagging - continued

27%

17%

5%

51%

Tag Cloud in Public Libraries

Large Tag Cloud (over 50 tags)Small Tag Cloud (less than 50 tags)Empty Tag Cloud (no tags)Tag Cloud not turned on

• 27% public libraries have large tag clouds for subject access

• More than half public libraries do not encourage users add their own subject terms

• 22% users are not interested in adding tags to catalogs

Users & Tagging - continued

Tag Cloud in Public Libraries • Only 3% academic libraries have large tag clouds for subject access

• 42% academic libraries do not encourage users add their own subject terms

• Users in more than half academic libraries are not interested in adding tags to catalogs

3%

44%

11%

42%

Tag Cloud in Academic Libraries

Large Tag Cloud (over 50 tags)Small Tag Cloud (less than 50 tags)Empty Tag Cloud (no tags)Tag Cloud not turned on

Users & Tagging - continued

• Tag Cloud in Wagner College Koha OPAC (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 For example: Search by tag “microbiology” get only 3 titles, by subject “microbiology” can get 262 titles

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

Food for Thought

More research is needed for1. Why public library users are more active in

tagging?2. Better subject access to combine user

contributed tagging and keyword extraction into one tag cloud?

3. How to link/map LCSH to user contributed tags?

Questions and Answers

CreditsBreeding, M. (2012). Guides: Resources and content on relevant topics. In Library technologyguides: 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 comparisonOf LibraryThing tags and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Journal Of InformationScience, 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.