Assessment task: Investigative Exercise 6 Social Bookmarking

Assessment task: Investigative Exercise 6 Social Bookmarking.


The two reviews available for the book, "Born or Bred? Martin Bryant: the making of a mass murderer", on the State Library of Tasmania's website, are very useful in that they provide an interesting synopsis into the book's content, and help the reader to judge whether the book is a worthwhile read or not.
With only two reviews provided on this site in over five years since the book was first published, crime book aficionados may well want to seek out further reviews provided on sites such as Goodreads and independent newspapers, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, to gain a better perspective.
The "book reviews" section available on the Clarence Regional Library website is an excellent resource, provided by a regional library service. There are over 440 book reviews and ratings provided on this site, the diversity of which are quite astounding.
However, as the majority of reviews are written by amateurs, the quality and content differs greatly, and most are only peripheral at best.
Having said this and despite the fact that the reviews and ratings are relatively subjective, this resource provides a wonderful opportunity for the predominantly local community to voice their opinions in the public arena. I am sure that in such a tight-knit society, much mirth must be enjoyed by people reading some of their friends and neighbours' reviews!
I think that these types of services are essential resources for libraries to provide, as so much information nowadays needs to be provided in an online format for people. It is also not always feasible to expect that library employees will have the available time to provide these types of insights face-to-face in the library environs itself.
To be able to arrive at the library armed with at least some information obtained prior, will always prove to be beneficial in saving both time and effort.
Unfortunately, Hurstville Library, Museum and Gallery's website does not appear to offer a similar resource on their website, and the only reviews on their Facebook page pertain solely to the utilities themselves. 
However they do offer access for members to a multitude of research databases including some resources like Bowker GBIP, which  provides full text reviews and bibliographic information to English language books, videos and also audio cassettes.

                                                  Hurstville LMG database link

Many of the other suburban libraries like Waverley Library, also have links within their databases to resources such as AustLit, which provides access to large archives of critical  articles, reviews and surveys by Australian literature scholars, predominantly relating to significant Australian authors, their works and other general literary subjects.
All of these resources are integral tools for the library user, and add greatly to the worth of each individual library website.