Social Software in Academic Libraries

Ellyssa Kroski

ACRL/NY Symposium

November 30, 2007

What is Social Software?

New Web 2.0 tools which are:

Social

Participatory

Collaborative

Easy to Use

Community Environments

What is Social Software?

Social Software Tools enable people to:

Create

Contribute

Connect

Converse

Vote

Share

Why Social Software?

Exploding Growth

MySpace has over 200 million users

Facebook has over 53 million users half of which sign in daily

Over 75 million blogs

Wikipedia has over 5 million articles written in over 200 languages

People view over 100 million videos daily on YouTube

Flicrk has over 2 billion photos

Why Social Software?

Mainstream Adoption

85% of college students have a Facebook account

Americans spend an average of 14 hours per week on the Web

85% of young broadband users have watched online video

51% of American teens have uploaded photos to the Web

55% of American teens have a social networking profile

Over half of all visitors to MySpace and over 40% to Facebook are over 35 years old

The Social Tools of Web 2.0 Social Networking Subject Guides Answers Second Life Micro blogging IM Blogs Social Bookmarking Media Sharing Wikis Social Software

Wikis

Easy Web publishing

No HTML required

Collaborative online spaces

Great tools for:

Team projects

Knowledge bases

Remote collaboration

FAQs

Course instruction

Encyclopedias

Intranets

How are Academic Libraries Using Wikis?

Wikis as Intranets

“ The wiki allows us to keep staff content centrally located, consistently organized, and — most importantly — easily editable by anyone willing to learn a few basics.” Erin George Associate to the University Librarian University of Minnesota Libraries

Wikis as Training Tools

Wikis as Library Web Sites

“ It has enabled all the librarians at USCA to share the responsibility of updating pages. I really believe that it has created a sense of ownership and a commitment to the website among those who contribute.” Jane H. Tuten Library Director USC Aiken Library

Wikis as Subject Guides

“ The Biz Wiki allows me to create and manage dynamic content at anytime and anywhere, allowing me to address popular questions quickly, while promoting the use of business resources.” Chad F. Boeninger Reference & Instruction Technology Coordinator Ohio University Libraries

Wikis as Resource Reviews Collections

Wikis for Event Planning

Wikis for Best Practices

Social Bookmarking Tools

An online space to save “favorites” or bookmarks

Discovery tools

Categorization by tags

Portable & searchable

Great tools for:

Resource collections

Subject guides

Reading lists

How are Academic Libraries Using Social Bookmarking?

Social Bookmarks in Subject Guides

“ Using a del.icio.us account along with FeedDigest has made it much easier for our librarians to automatically keep a web site up to date.” Nicole Hennig Web Manager MIT Libraries

Social Bookmarking Communities

Social Bookmarking for Class Reading Lists

Social Bookmarking for Staff Resources

“ It is a catch-all space for stuff I find interesting and want to share in a no-hassle way. Much better than emailing everyone every time I find something nifty.” Lisa Sepa Technical Services Librarian Maui Community College Library

Social Bookmarks as Recommended Resources

Social Bookmarking for Keeping Current

Social Bookmarking for Event Tracking

Media Sharing

Organize and share photo & video collections online

Easy Upload

Great tools for:

Training

Marketing & Promotion

Teaching

Digital collections management

Online exhibits

Tours

How are Academic Libraries Using Media Sharing?

Media Sharing for Historical Collections

Media Sharing for Spotlighting Library Staff

Media Sharing for Library Tours

“ YouTube has really helped us market ourselves to the campus community. Some people say, "YouTube, really?" but the undergrads get it.” Nick Baker Reference and Web Services Librarian Williams College Libraries

Media Sharing for Research Recommendations

Media Sharing for Instruction

Media Sharing for Promotion

Social Networks

Online social hubs

“ Third Places”

Environments to find like-minded people

Great tools for:

Portals

Networking

Marketing

Outreach

Branding

How are Academic Libraries Using Social Networking?

Social Networks as Library Portals

“ MySpace has been an a great avenue for connecting with other libraries around the country and world and for sharing marketing ideas.” Meg Burger Learning Commons Coordinator University Library University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Social Networks for Promotion

Social Networks as Extensions of the Library Website

Social Networks for Outreach

Social Networks for Catalog Search

Social Networks for Database Search

Social Networks for Professional Networking

Social Networks for Keeping Up

Blogs

Online journals or websites

Articles posted in chronological order

No HTML necessary

Great tools for:

Breaking news

Staff communication

Subject resources

Course materials

Media reviews

Publishing

How are Academic Libraries Using Blogs?

Blogs as Library News Vehicles

“ The KSL News Blog generates comments with surprising swiftness–from our campus, and beyond, we are reaching people in different ways.” Karen Oye, M.L.S. Head of Customer Services Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University

Blogs as Subject Resources

Blogs to Support Library Instruction

Blogs for Staff Communication

Blogs for Accessibility

"My blog and my Facebook profile allow me to communicate in new ways with our students and faculty and in ways that they themselves communicate" Jeff Trzeciak University Librarian McMaster University

IM

Real-time online text chat

No technical skills required

Great tools for:

Virtual reference

Staff communication

Remote meetings

Collaboration

How are Academic Libraries Using IM?

IM for Virtual Reference

IM + Voice for Virtual Reference

“ In providing services via Skype we're continuing to expand the range of access options available to our users, many of whom already rely on the web calling client for much of their communication.” Char Booth Reference & Instruction Librarian Ohio University Libraries

IM + Text for Virtual Reference

"Since expanding the AskAULibrary service from AIM to all major IM providers through Meebo, our statistics have doubled." Melissa Becher Coordinator of AskAULibrary American University Library

Microblogging

Online text communication tool

Short messages of up to 140 characters

Great tools for:

Event announcements

News updates

Making Web resource recommendations

Promotion

How are Academic Libraries Using Microblogging?

Microblogging and Promotion

Microblogging as a Library Portal

Second Life

Virtual World

3-D MMORPG

Created by inhabitants

Great tool for:

Remote education

Training

Virtual events

Conferencing

How are Academic Libraries Using Second Life?

Second Life for Subject Guides

Second Life for Virtual Reference

Second Life for Education

“ We noticed that students find the most pleasure – and thus motivation to learn - by being challenged with constructionist activities in Second Life. They have a blast building our campus and running events on it.” Jeremy Kemp Assistant Director for Second Life Campus San Jose State University SLIS

Second Life for Database Searching

Second Life for Exhibits

Second Life for Conferences

Answers Communities

Social Q&A

Wisdom of Crowds

Great tools for:

Virtual Reference

Outreach

Promotion

How are Academic Libraries Using Answers Communities?

Answers as Promotion

Subject Guides Tools

Social Tools to create interactive subject guides

Multimedia & Multiformat

Great tools for:

Subject guides

Pathfinders

How-to guides

How are Academic Libraries Using Subject Guides?

Subject Guides as Research Guides

"The best thing about LibGuides @ BC may be how liberating it's been for librarians, carrying many into the world of Library 2.0 not kicking and screaming but excited and energized by the opportunity at last to shape and manage their online presence and interaction with students." Ken Liss Librarian Boston College University Libraries

Subject Guides as Reading Lists

Social Software in Academic Libraries