Wikis versus Social Bookmarking for Library Subject Guides

The advantage of using social bookmarking for Library Subject Guides, particularly for academic libraries, is that it enables members of multiple universities to connect to each others' work. Although the PennTags website is proprietary to the University of Pennsylvania, for example, the PennVetTags link provides Penn students information related to veterinary science from Colorado State University, Atlantic Veterinary College, Cornell University, the University of Cambridge, and Louisiana State University, among many others. In academic fields, for which collegial exchange of information is essential, this tool provides valuable information about field-specific research across the country and, in some cases, the world.

This social bookmarking is also useful inasmuch as it provides cross-referencing in the form of related subject links. Such links can be provided on sites which use Delicious as a platform, such as at the College of New Jersey, using widgets from that site. This provides the advantage of connecting the university social tagging network to all of Delicious, which proprietary tagging does not; however, the accuracy of the material with matching tags depends on how judiciously tags are created, and by whom.

Wikis, unless designed by someone with a background in web design, do not necessarily have as attractive a layout as home pages with tagging options. However, as the Ohio University Libraries Biz Wiki demonstrates, they have the advantage of displaying a variety of media, including embedded videos, live chat interfaces, databases, and blogs. Although they do not necessarily have a built-in capability to link to others' links, as with social bookmarking, wikis can still link to this information without any concern for appropriate taxonomy.

If given the choice between wikis or social bookmarking for a library website, I would tend towards social bookmarking, particularly if it provided the opportunity to share taxonomies with related outside sources. Although wikis are not without value for libraries, even at the public level, they tend to be more helpful for intra- rather than internet purposes.