#12 Tagging, Part 1

My search term was basketry. In Google there were 1,260,000 hits. In eQuest keyword the search returned only 11 titles. Apparently basketry is not an LC Subject Heading, because there were no titles listed under this heading. However, there were 10 titles that showed up with "baskets" in various subject headings.

Of course the Google search is absolutely overwhelming. There is no way to actually look at over a million pages and the search term would need to be expanded to actually find what you are looking for. If web pages were tagged and Google searched tags rather than text it would help limit searches. But that will never happen.

I think tags are LC Subject Headings in everyday language. They tend to be more haphazard because a lot of thought has gone into making subject headings consistent and descriptive. Tags will never have that structure, because not everyone thinks like a cataloger.

I can see tags being more flexible because I might tag this book in my library with basketry, baskets, basket making, and basket weaving patterns. With that many variations the tag would show up no matter what search term the researcher used. I never search eQuest with subject headings because I don't think like a cataloger. I almost always use keyword searches and never have trouble finding the titles I need.

I have gone back to my blog posts and added tags to some of my earliest entries. Eventually I will tag my library books and Flickr photos. Some day, when I have nothing else to do.