Social Bookmarking in Digital Libraries

Abstract

This chapter elucidates the concept of social bookmarking, its benefits in digital libraries as well as the implications of its use on the intellectual property rights of the creators of the bookmarked works. The author concludes that digital libraries can use social bookmarking as a means of increasing access to and sharing of information resources; improve web searching; as well as to enhance collaboration in the creation and use of information. Since social bookmarks are, by and large, public descriptions of and pointers to the original resources, digital libraries do not infringe the intellectual property rights of their creators. Nonetheless, the libraries should watch against copying large volumes of content from the original resource as this may be construed as an intellectual competition with the bookmarked resource. Digital libraries are advised to develop and apply social bookmarking policies to streamline their use of social bookmarks.