Social bookmarking has become very popular recently within online library sites and the internet in general. Looking at the State Library of Tasmania, I read the reviews on Born or bred?: Martin Bryant: the making of a mass murderer by Robert Wainwright & Paola Totaro.
(The book reviews at Stonnington Library link did not work properly I am afraid)
I think that social bookmarking and the services involved within it can beneficial, when used right within libraries. The ability for a user to add their own review to a catalogue item could certainly proof useful for those wanting to learn more about the item and who value feedback. Within the State Library of Tasmania catalogue, the review functions themselves can be rated as well as the item in question itself. I think this option is useful provided a lot of users are using such a function. Combined with personal reviews a user can get a general feel for the item combined with their own opinion.
As for drawbacks, I guess it comes down to how many people actually take to this function as it is only really useful if a large proportion of users participate, in my opinion. Also I suppose reviews could be subject to bias but that is what a personal opinion usually constitutes. There is also the problem of spam/junk that some people take it upon themselves to plague the population with, but that comes with any socially active site.
I would like to see how social bookmarking develops in the future, hopefully with good results.
-Toni
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