My Paper

In my paper I’m going to talk about libraries’ presence on social networking sites, focusing mainly on Facebook and My Space.  I will be looking at why libraries are interested in these social spheres and the benefits of being involved with them.   I will be including some specific examples of how libraries have been presenting themselves in these spaces and how they are trying to make themselves available and useful.  It is estimated that 85% of high school and college students have either a MySpace or a Facebook (or both) profile and the number of adults becoming involved has been growing every day.  It seems only natural that libraries would want to tap into this.  I will not only be looking at the benefits that exploring this avenue can bring, but will also discuss the potential problems.  Do users want libraries invading their spaces?  What impact could DOPA have on these ventures?  Finally, I will be looking at how libraries can evaluate the impact they are having and what they need to look at to ensure that they are using this 2.0 technology to its full potential. 

Libraries as social networkers

I realized today that I had gotten a bit behind here.  Just a few thoughts on social networking… I do think that libraries do need to continue to experiment with social networking as I think it is here to stay.  The library where I work has both a facebook and a myspace page.  One of the articles mentioned how  important it is to establish your presence in places where your younger users hang out, so I think libraries that create a presence in these sites are on the right track.  You can add an application on facebook that will allow you to search the catalog from your profile.  You can also become a fan of the library.  Have I done this?  I’m ashamed to say that I have neither added the search box nor have I become a fan of the library.  But then again, I am not the one of the library’s younger users and am already a fan of libraries. 

I have, however, created a profile on my library’s very own social networking page, Bookspace.  While I think libraries should continue to be a presence on social networking sites like facebook and myspace, I also think they need to take a look at Bookspace and consider their own social networking avenues.  As for Bookspace, I can think of some things that may make it even more attractive to users.  One such thing would be to extend the network to include not just books, but other sources of information.  I think it would be great if people could create their own groups, like they can on Facebook, and include links to their favorite websites, videos, etc…  I have this idea of user generated pathfinders of a sort, where people would compile their own list of resources for their subject of interest.  Then other people would have access to these lists and would be able to comment on them.  I think people would have fun sharing the resources they’ve compiled on their subjects of expertise.  I don’t know if this is feasible, but it’s just an idea that I’ve been kicking around in my head.  It would make the whole library social networking more personal and participatory.

Also, I know people really like decorating and personalizing their social networking profiles.  Bookspace only allows a teeny tiny user picture (I know this is probably a bandwith issue, so maybe nothing can be done about this).  I just think that people would be more attracted to Bookspace and similar library social networking if they could make their page more personal. 

As I’ve mentioned, I do really like Bookspace as it is, but I did take a look at the number of profiles that have been created and it really isn’t all that high.  I think libraries need to continue with this sort of thing, but come up with innovative ideas and improvements that will attract more people.