Social Bookmarking

I created a del.icio.us account and added a few websites from my favorites. Ones that have long URLs and at least one that took me forever to "refind" after I found it the first time.

For the librarians in the audience that URL is: http://www.geocommunicator.gov/GeoComm/landmin/home/index.shtm
(Click on the map in the grid...to the right of Mining Claims Map. A clunky interface, but very powerful.)
It is a Bureau of Land Management mapping tool that allows you to search for mining claims. Very handy. With the price of gold going through the roof I have had a number of patrons who were interested in panning.

So anyway, I added them and then checked out who else had bookmarked them. I did not gain any great insights or new websites from the little poking around that I did.

I can see the value of this kind of resource for our patrons or anyone that finds themselves using lots of different PCs. (Although, you can not load the del.icio.us toolbar on the public PCs.) However, professionally I will always have access to both my personal favorites and the Snohomish Reference ones simply by logging in with that profile.

Will i ever need them at home? While away at some conference?
(My former and current supervisors will get a chuckle out of that.)
Potentially, but it sure seems like a lot of work for an odd chance.

So, in the end I don't see myself becoming a contributor to the social bookmarking world...however, I could foresee myself using it as a tool for research. I guess that makes me a parasite...taking but not contributing.

So be it.