Web 2.0 CE - Week 4: Social Bookmarking

In week four of the MLA Web 2.0 CE course, we focused on social bookmarking. I am already familiar with social bookmarking; I first heard about it during Mark Funk's inaugural address at MLA 2007 in Philadelphia. Soon after the conference, I registered for a del.icio.us account. I also learned more about del.icio.us from several librarians at MSU. I use it both at home at work!

I quickly became aware of the many benefits of social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us. I especially like the fact that your bookmarks are accessible from anywhere, can be shared, and can be assigned multiple tags. Because I was so enthused about del.icio.us, I decided to write a short article in the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group's Fall 2007 Newsletter. I wanted to give a brief overview of social bookmarking and highlight some of its uses and benefits. The article I wrote can be seen on page 5 and 6 here.

I will admit, as of late, I haven't been the best about always remembering to add web pages and tags to my del.icio.us account. Therefore, I'm glad social bookmarking was the topic this week. It's has reminded me of the many uses and advantages of social bookmarking. I have already thought of several sites specific to my liaison and library duties that will augment my collection of sites and tags. From now on, I'll be more diligent about adding and maintaining my social bookmarks. I have thought of several ways to motivate me to keep at it: advertising my recent additions in my facebook profile, sharing certain pages with nursing students and faculty (on nursing theory, evidence-based practice, etc), etc.