Thomas, M., Caudle, D. M., & Schmitz, C. M. (2009). To tag or not to tag? Library Hi Tech, 27(3), 411 – 434. doi:10.1108/07378830910988540

The purpose of this article is to provide a quantitative analysis of the extent to which folksonomies replicate the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to see if folksonomies would successfully complement cataloger-supplied subject headings in library catalogs (411).

The authors studied a small sample of very popular books.  Their conclusions may not have application to scholarly collections and/or the long tail of less popular books in browsing collections.  On the other hand, their work provides very clear evidence for the advantages tagging can offer to items that receive many tags.

Continue reading Marliese Thomas, Dana M. Caudle and Cecilia M. Schmitz: To tag or not to tag?