Social Networking in Academic Libraries: does it work?
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The document discusses how academic libraries can use social networking to communicate with users, promote resources and services, and network with other librarians. It defines social networking and explains how libraries can create presences on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, Delicious, YouTube and mobile apps. The document provides examples of how the sciences library at the University of Johannesburg uses these tools and argues that a coordinated social media strategy can help libraries connect with users and each other in new ways.
Social Networking in Academic Libraries: does it work?
- 1. Social Networking in Academic Libraries : does it help? Pavlinka Kovatcheva, Sciences Librarian University of Johannesburg, South Africa GAELIC Summer Training Camp Workshop 16 November 2010 Source
- 2. How do you…. • Communicate information to your users? •Promote your library resources & services? Network with other librarians, researchers and students Store and find useful information?
- 3. Communication Channels Traditional Channels - face-to-face - letters - e-mail - phone / fax Social Networking Channels Internet Mobile
- 5. Defining Social Networking Social networking is… • The act of exchanging information, personal or public, through various forms of technology, such as the Internet, cell phones, MP3 players and other services. (Source) Social Networking is used by: • Individuals, organisations, business, etc. • The social sites connect you with other to share interest, information, services, causes • The information can be private or public with selected group of people or individuals
- 6. Why should you be a Social Networking Librarian? Social Networking….. • helps you build a global and local presence • makes you visible on the Internet. Google works 24/7 • helps you keep current, share and communicate • helps you increase your knowledge base, while making new contacts in areas of interest or individuals • helps you meet library users and potential users in their social space • Promote, promote, promote yourself and your library INNOVATI ON!
- 7. Let us become Social Librarians with....... • Social Networking: • Social Networking & Microblogging: • Professional Networking: • Blogging: • Social Bookmarking: • & Podcasting • Desktop goes Mobile ..... and discover how it all comes together
- 8. The Social + Traditional Librarians
- 9. Getting started with Social Networking in the Library • What is your PURPOSE for using Social Networking? • Find where your users are and what are they using? - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, Mobile applications, YouTube, etc. OR - Why are they not on the social arena? • Decide which social tools will be most effective for promoting the library resources and services • Distinguish between institutional identity and personal identity • Identify library champions of the Social Networking/ Web 2.0
- 10. SOCIAL NETWORKING FACEBOOK • Facebook is no. 2 website in South Africa (http://www.alexa.com/) According to Facebook stats (Source) • Facebook has more than 500 million active users • 50% of the active users login to Facebook in any given day • Average user has 130 friends • People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook • Over 200 million Mobile users accessing Facebook Source
- 11. Why do you need a Library presence on Facebook? • Library users and potential users are there and they spend so much time online. • A new way to raise an awareness and provide access to resources, information and services • Change the way users interact with the library • Connect with your library “fans”. • Build relationships. • Career networking – meet other librarians. Join groups of interest • Latest feeds from publishers, vendors, current awareness services, etc. • Create and broaden your community of interest • Share your library experiences with the world Facebook Features: • Friends • Update your status: “Write something”, ‘What’s on your mind” • Profile (Info, Photos, Links, Wall) • Applications • Groups / “likes” page Start a conversation with • Facebook chat • Private messages In the news: • Facebook will offer an e-mail service to its users (15 Nov 2010)
- 16. Recommendation: • Create “like” page for your library (formerly known as “fan” page) “Like” and “Share” are some of the best tools around for driving: • Referral traffic from social networks • Opening new communication channels with customers and prospects, and • Building relationships. (Source) “Like” page
- 17. SOCIAL NETWORKING &MICROBLOGGING TWITTER Twitter is no. 7 website in South Africa (http://www.alexa.com/) •Twitter offers a social networking and microblogging service, which enabling its users to send and read other users' messages called tweets. •Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. •Tweets are publicly visible by default, however senders can restrict message delivery to their friends list. • Users may subscribe to other users' tweets—this is known as following and subscribers are known as followers (Wikipedia)
- 18. Twitter (ujlibscience) New design You will now find @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above your timeline – creating a single, streamlined view on the left of the screen. On the right, you can see the features, including whom you recently followed and who recently followed you, favorites and trends topics.
- 20. Additional New Features View photos, videos, and other media content See embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter Discover related content When you click a tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: @replies, other tweets by that same user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more. Mini profiles You can click a @username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets. http://twitter.com/newtwitter
- 23. PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING LINKEDIN LinkedIn is no. 12 website in South Africa (http://www.alexa.com/) • Is the world’s largest professional network with over 80 million members and growing rapidly. • Connects you with professionals from all around the world • Helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals (Source) •Useful networking and information gathering tools are built into LinkedIn that you can use (Slideshare presentations, Twitter feeds, Blog feeds, etc.)
- 24. Why use LinkedIn? Increases your visibility - add connections Improve your Connectability - show all your affiliations in your profile Improve your Google page rank - in e-mail signature for example Enhance your search engine results - promote your blogs, websites links Perform company reference check - check potential companies Increase the relevancy of your job search - “be a librarian” do advanced search with relevant to you keywords. Make your interview go smoother And more... Read further on Slideshare, G. Kawasaki
- 26. LinkedIn: Groups
- 28. SOCIAL NETWORKING & BLOGGING BLOGS Blogs popularity in South Africa: (http://www.alexa.com/) no. 8 (Blogger) and no. 15 (Wordpress) Use in the Library for: • Promoting the library, its services and resources • Market yourself (as an “innovative research” librarian and your services) • User experience and feedback (comments, participation, collaboration, etc.)
- 30. SOCIAL BOOKMARKING DELICIOUS Tagging information resources has changed the way we store and find information. Use Social Bookmarking in the Library for: - Promoting the library and relevant to your users resources - Simplify the distribution of Reference lists, bibliographies, articles; news and other resources among peers and students - Used for Current Awareness and Selective Dissemination of information (Tag: articles, news, ToC, websites, etc.)
- 32. Links to Library Online books full-text
- 33. SOCIAL NETWORKING YOUTUBE VIDEOS & PODCASTING YouTube is no. 4 website in South Africa: (http://www.alexa.com/) Why do you need to use it in the Library? • Visualisation and audio are two of the favorite options for the young generation to learn and engage. • Making library videos is a good marketing tool •Use YouTube videos for training library users • Use podcasting as way to record lectures, trainings, presentations, instructions, etc.
- 35. ..... How it all comes together (1) MOBILE APPLICATIONS
- 36. ..... How it all comes together (2)
- 37. ..... How it all comes together (3)
- 38. ..... How it all comes together (4) Blog post
- 39. ..... How it all comes together (5)
- 40. Access to Sciences Resources • Databases & Internet resources • Library Services & Collections • User Education & Research help Social Networking: embedded tools • Instant Messaging • Twitter widget • Facebook • Blogs widgets • Delicious bookmarks http://ujsciencelibrarian.pbworks.com ..... How it all comes together (6)
- 42. Pavlinka Kovatcheva E-mail: [email protected] UJ Sciences Librarian Portal: http://ujsciencelibrarian.pbworks.com/FrontPage Slideshare presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/pavlinka163/presentations Pavlinka’sSocialtools
- 43. Useful Readings for NEW Social Librarians! • Social Networking safety • What is Social Networking • Social Networking in South Africa • The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited • iLibrarian blog • Mashable