AnnaLaura Brown (2010) wrote an article on her blog listing ways in which libraries can utilise social networking technologies to benefit their clients. Below is just a couple of her points and how I feel they could be applied to a University library, this library has begun use of some social networking technologies, but does not appear to be using them to their full potential.
“F-Facebook, having a presence on facebook with a fan page or a group is a must. Facebook is so popular now that it is expected” (Brown, 2010).
The library posts once a week or so, mostly concerning services. These posts are just general informative posts with a stock picture. Comments on the Library’s posts are few and far between and the ‘likes’ have sat at 621 for months. This page needs a total refresh, include content that students are interested in, engage using information and questions that are interesting, e.g. today is Charles Dickens 200th birthday, what is your favourite tale?
“H-Help- relying on only one or two people to build your library’s social networking presence will not work. It needs to be a whole team effort on behalf of your entire library staff.
Z-zeal, is your library staff exciting about the possibilities that social networking can offer your library? If not, you will struggle to make it work for you” (Brown, 2010).
In a lot of ways H & Z go hand in hand, if staff aren’t excited about it, they will not help whole-heartedly. Getting staff familiar with these technologies will go a long way to getting them excited about it. Perhaps at an all staff meeting encourage your staff to tweet and have a screen up displaying the live twitter feed. Create a storify later on so staff can come back and revisit the events of the day.
“M- Mobile, more and more your library’s social networking needs to be able to be accessed via mobile devices. There are also more options than ever for making this a reality” (Brown, 2010).
Almost everywhere has a mobile version of their website now, to not be well and truly in this sphere is a bad place to be. Currently the library has released a mobile site only last year and it is still working out bugs. Their needs to be a concerted effort to have this website running flawlessly by the end of 2012. Right now not only is the library far behind its competitors, but also behind it’s vendors.
yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk
“V-Video whether on youtube or elsewhere, use video to enhance and engage with your users via social networking” (Brown, 2010).
Video sharing sites like YouTube can be embedded in most other social networking platforms. If the library were to create its own youtube channel it could promote it via the libraries facebook or twitter page. It can be used to connect with students, for example rather than book suggestions from Goodreads, you could tape interviews with library staff about books they recommend.
References
Brown, A. (2010). A to Z of social networking for libraries. Retrieved from http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2010/01/22/a-to-z-of-social-networking-for-libraries/ on 30 July, 2012.
OnceUponaTingle2. (2012). Library role play #1: YA Recommendations (ASMR). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eCwdhpyqYQ on 30 June, 2012.
Ditch the Bun 
August 2nd, 2012 at 6:50 am
Cat,
My experience with social networking and media in the workplace is that it takes time and resources for a network to gain momentum. I have read a bit about all staff needing to support social networking in the workplace but I think one of the points not being acknowledged is that people will need to take on extra work for this to occur. Management should look at how running a social network fits into the groups overall workload so that it does not become an additional task that people feel burdened with.
Cheers
Dale
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:53 am
This is very true Dale. I have also encountered the issue where staff feel they have gained all this information, complete and are skilled in numerous extra tasks, but do not receive a higher pay bracket. Management play a HUGE part in the acceptance of Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace. If it is going to be lumped onto someone as a responsibility then something else should come away from their workload or they should be monetarily compensated. Some people believe that running a FB page for a business is a 2min job per day, but this is completely untrue, at my workplace we started planning our 2012 FB presence in the last 3 months of 2011. We did a lot of research into the market and what other libraries were experiencing success with and compiled a list of suggested posts for 2012. This is now reviewed sometimes more often than weekly. We post everyday and you have to be careful what you post when you consider that you are the FB face of that organisation. I think sometimes the gravity of that is overlooked. Thanks for commenting, great point!
August 4th, 2012 at 2:39 am
It’s actually a nice and useful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
August 7th, 2012 at 9:18 am
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August 11th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
this is the third website that i found about this. and your explanation is the better.
August 13th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
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