Use of online social networks by libraries

"Library 2.0 is all about rethinking library services in the light of re-evaluating user needs and the opportunities produced by new technologies"
The use of social networks by libraries is a new concept. Libraries can use social networks as a means of promoting both their services and their inventory potentially boosting their clientele.
Social networking provides a way for users to communicate over the internet whether that is by instant messenger or by a webpage/ website.
Libraries can use social networks in numerous ways for example creating Facebook fan page for their library, using twitter to tweet about upcoming events at the library such as author visits or creating a virtual library similar to their own in a social network such as Second Life.
How libraries use social networks
Social networking comes in many forms, and the following are ways in which libraries use these various forms to communicate with their users. Libraries use these tools to extend their missions of service, stewardship and access to information. Each library will use the social networking forms most appropriate to their service, and the following can be found in many variations, combinations and styles. Discussed below are forms of social networking in its broadest sense, incorporating many web 2.0 phenomena as well as more traditional social networking sites. All have been used in different ways by individual libraries to network with their users in a digital world.
*Blogs
Blogs, a shortened version of Weblog, are simply software tools that allow the easy creation of a Web site. Usually this mechanism is in the form of a journal or news/update style site. Blog software, such as WordPress or Movable Type, creates the various pages of the site, a searchable archive, and a chronology of entries automatically. What began as personal publishing in the form of early online journals, blogs are now mainstream and used widely in business, by non-profits, and other institutions.
Looking at statistics shows how large the potential user market is for libraries if they are able to make full use of social networking opportunities. While social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace had 24.2 million visitors and 67 million visitors respectively in 2007, libraries fell far behind these numbers. The Library of Congress website gained only 1.2million visitors in the same year, and Worldcat only 912, 180 visitors.
Library Neutrality
Libraries are increasingly using social networking phenomena to advertise their library and to reach new, larger markets of potential users. For many this is an excellent use of marketing for the library service, enabling libraries to portray a new, fresher image, rather than that often portrayed of libraries as old fashioned and behind the times. However it is also the case that this use of social networking sites can impinge on the neutrality of library services. The advertisements that fund social networking sites are randomly allocated to each visitor, allowing the library no control over the advertising their users are subjected to. This is dangerous as the library could be seen as 'supporting' these companies or encouraging their users to redirect to these sites.
The debate as to whether librarianship has ever been completely neutral is a long and contentious one, but many would argue that the use of social networking sites breaks the core beliefs of the profession to support and uphold knowledge services for the public. The same people would argue that it is the role of professional librarianship bodies to advocate the protection of core values from new media such as social networking.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu