Introduction: opening the door to user-generated Content

The content of bibliographic records in library catalogues has always been strictly controlled by library staff. Metadata in these records is created in adherence to a standard scheme, usually the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) and, more recently, though not as extensively, the Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard. The records are contained in the Machine- Readable Cataloging (MARC) framework. The subject or ‘aboutness’ of works is described via standard headings, usually the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and classified according to standards such as the Dewey Decimal Classification System or the Library of Congress Classification System. The advent of social tagging, or folksonomies, a term coined by Thomas Vander Wal (2007) in 2004, opened the discussion about how user-generated content could add value to library catalogues by enabling users to organize their personal information spaces by tagging items of interest for later retrieval, supplement existing controlled vocabularies, and create online communities of interest by using tags to connect with other users with similar research interests (Spiteri, 2006; Steele, 2009). Since 2004, user-generated content in catalogues has expanded to include ratings and reviews. This chapter will explore how user-generated content has been used in library catalogues, identify and discuss emergent themes and patterns in this use, and suggest future directions.

The metadata framework of library catalogues

Library catalogues typically contain bibliographic records whose content is created by trained professionals. The standard metadata scheme used in most catalogues for the past several decades has been the AACR. This standard describes standardized access points or elements of an item, as outlined in the International Standard Bibliographic Description: