To be honest I'm in two minds about this "thing" called del.icio.us which to begin with makes me think of all things tasty - those who know me well will know I have an exceedingly sweet tooth! Sometimes even chocolate doesn't cut it. Anyway, that's rather beside the point. Aside from it's strange name, I can understand why this resource has, according to some of the literature, taken off rather less among libraries. The big undoubted bonus is portability and the strength of this bonus grows the more you need to move from machine to machine - working on an enquiry desk, giving presentations, job-sharing, working from home etc. It strikes me, however, that to be successful this tool would demand much greater administration to make it work well for libraries if used in a public setting. It doesn't, for example, create a good impression to readers if the library is providing out-of-date bookmarks, broken links or links which for one reason or another simply don't work anymore. Similarly Rethlefsen's article interested me by describing the way the Bibliotheques de l'Universite Paris-Sorbonne was using delicious. Isn't the "extensivley organised" way in which it "divvies up" by tags/time/period/discipline/format etc. becoming more like a classification scheme for online resources? If so this demonstrates well the skills of the librarian but again would need constant attention. Arguably, I think this "thing" would work better for more subject specialist libraries or be best found on the web pages of individual departments where subject specific bookmarks could be provided. The fact patrons can contribute suggestions is also useful as a form of peer support. I don't think I'll be subscribing too soon. I spend a limited amount of time away from the same computer at work and would just use Google or email myself a link in advance if using another machine.
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