Social Networking Literacy Skills: Recasting the Reader Services Librarians' Competencies in the 21st century

Social Networking Literacy Skills: Recasting the Readers Services Librarians’ Competencies in the 21 st Century Presented at PAARL’s Summer Seminar-Workshop on the theme “Librarians at their Best: Envisioning and Realizing Multilevel and Progressive Readers Services” Lyceum of Aparri, Cagayan Valley, April 29 – May 1, 2009 By Fe Angela M. Verzosa

“ A huge number of the readers services
population are logging on to the internet for
the sole purpose of social networking.”
In order for librarians to successfully extend effective and efficient services to its modern library users, engaging in social networking activities is a must.
This topic discusses various social networking activities and develops strategic approaches for integrating these activities to formulate a productive and cutting-edge readers services.

Internet usage increased from 23 percent in 2007 to 28 percent in 2008, according to a new survey conducted by Nielsen and Yahoo on Filipino Internet habits study .
Internet use is not restricted to the big cities like Metro Manila . E.g. Cagayan de Oro City – 35%
47% of all internet time are spent in internet cafes.
Social networking is a key online activity.

Overall popular online activities :
63% - Email/Instant messaging
58% - Searches
53% - Playing online games
51% - Download/upload of photos
51% - Social networking
24% - Reading news online
3% - Online banking/purchasing products

Profile of Internet users:
50% - 10 to 19 years old
41% - 20 to 29
19% - 30 to 39
12% - 40 to 49
3% - 50 + above

Other relevant facts:
Philippines has been tagged as "The Social Networking Capital of the World”
83 percent of Filipinos surveyed are members of a social network (Universal McCann)
also regarded as the top photo uploaders and web video viewers, while they are second when it comes to the number of blog readers and video uploaders

Other relevant facts:
2.2 M out of 9M registered Multiply users are Filipinos, outnumbering even nationalities with a bigger population base like the United States
1M photographs are uploaded by Filipinos to Multiply every day, which is half of their total number worldwide
60% Filipino Multiply users are female, while 70% are under 25
Friendster - the Philippines now holds the record of “having the most number of Friendster users worldwide” with 87% of local Internet users
55% Filipino Friendster users are female, and between 16 to 30

What is…

Connecting with existing networks, making and developing friendships /contacts
Developing an online presence
Viewing content and/or finding information
Creating and customizing profiles
Authoring and uploading your own content
Adding and sharing third-party content
Posting messages
Collaborating
For e-learning

What is Social Software?
a range of web-enabled software programs that allow users to interact and work collaboratively with other users
includes the ability to browse, search, invite friends to connect and interact, share film reviews, comments, blog entries, favorites, discussions, events, videos, ratings, music, classified ads, tag and classify information, etc.
functions like an online community of internet users

Social Networking Sites

General with 235,000,000 users General with 253,145,404 users mainly business for professionals General, popular in ASEAN countries Photo sharing, commenting, popular worldwide Video-sharing, commenting, banned in some for Music countries for blogging for Book lovers Ning - Users create their own social websites/ networks Wayn - Travel and lifestyle

Sosyalan.com is the 1st Pinoy video-sharing and social networking site in one.
With Sosyalan.com you will be able to: - Easily connect with friends, relatives, classmates and other Filipinos from all over the world - Create your own webpage - Share, blog, and watch videos, tagalog movies, and listen to OPM music videos

Types of social networking service
Profile-based
organized around members’ profile pages that mainly consist of information about an individual member, including the person’s picture and details of interests, likes and dislikes.
Users develop their spaces in various ways, and can often contribute to each other’s spaces, typically leaving text, embedded content or links to external content through message walls, comment or evaluation tools. - Best examples of profile-based services: Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Multiply.com, Sosyalan.com

Content-based
the user’s profile remains an important way of organizing connections, but plays a secondary role to the posting of content.
Best examples
Flickr - for photo-sharing
YouTube – for video-sharing
Last.fm – for music-sharing
LibraryThing – for sharing personal
library catalogs and book lists
Types of social networking service

Motivations for Social Networking
Anticipated Reciprocity contribute valuable information; expect that one will receive useful help and information in return
Increased Recognition - individuals want recognition for their contributions
Sense of efficacy – contributors believe that they have had some effect on this environment or community

Social Networks in Libraries
Market library services
Provide links and information
Sharing – discussion topics pictures/music/videos
Participation - create a dialog
Get feedback
Great tools for : Library Portals Networking Marketing & Promotion Outreach Branding

… as Library Portals University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Portal at MySpace Library catalog search box

mission

discussionboard photos events

guides catalogs web

Book reviews

Univ of Indiana

Catalog search Photos videos polls

… for Marketing/Promotion University of Central Florida promotes their Ask a Librarian service through their MySpace page

… for Marketing/Promotion

… for Library Networking

Blog entries

YouTube clips Instant messaging

messaging blogging profile music

links calendar

… for Professional Networking Using Ning as a tool… over 2,500 librarians who belong to the Ning Library 2.0 social network

… for Library Outreach Reaching out to students…

… for Catalog Search academic libraries have created Facebook applications to enable their patrons to search their library catalogs

an online service to help people catalog their books easily Also connects people with same books

Users create their own social websites/ networks

mainly business for professionals

Music community website

For travel and lifestyle

Social networking for UST

Blogs
short for web logs, are like online journals wherein the ”blogger” (or owner) posts messages periodically, sharing and focusing on a particular subject or issue,
allowing others to comment
a venue for writing and peer editing and sharing, posting articles, stories, illustrated books, and opinions on current events, personal experiences, etc.
libraries use blogs as news vehicles, venues for staff communication, to support library instruction, and as a forum for peers/colleagues to express opinions on library issues and concerns

Ideas for Library Blogs
Online book discussion
New releases – books, video, electronic resources
Upcoming events
Updating community – building a new library
Appeal to special interest groups
Reference Log
School Librarian in Action

Blogging Tools
Blogger – free, with tutorials, templates
Edublogs – free, great for students/teachers
WordPress – free, over 60 themes and integrated stats system
Blog It – Facebook blogging application
LiveJournal – free blog social network; most distinctive feature is its “friends list”
Snip Snap – Blog/wiki tool
Vox – blogging and social networking tool

Enjoys a Google PageRank of 6

Blogs as Library News Vehicles

Blogs as Subject Resources a business blog on which Binghampton University library blog about electronic reference resources, business database news, and statistical sources

Uses of Media-sharing tools
For digital collections management especially for historical collections
Online exhibits
As training modules
Teaching as instructional aids
Marketing and promotion
Library and museum tours

Video-sharing for Library Orientation

Video-sharing for Library Tours an engaging way to introduce new students to the campus library as well as to its librarians

For sharing photos of events …

More ideas for Flickr
Highlight library events
Hold a photo contest
Upload a collection
Library tour
Ask people to post pictures of themselves reading or using the library
Create a sense of community

Library News on Flickr

Photo-sharing for Historical Collections

Wikis
a web page that is accessible to anyone with a Web browser and
an Internet connection
allows readers to collaborate with others in writing it and add, edit, and change the web page’s content,
making it a tool for collaboration

Uses of Wikis in Libraries
Library Websites
Intranets
Training tools or course instruction
Event planning
Subject Guides
Reference Wiki
Best Practices
Encyclopedic works

Wikis as Library Web Sites

Wikis as Intranets

Wikis as Training Tools

Wikis for Event Planning

Wikis as Subject Guides

… as a Reference Wiki

Wikis for Best Practices

Wikis as encyclopedic works…

PAARLWiki as a Library 2.0 initiative

Benefits and Opportunities
Literacy and communication skills
Using sites to communicate, collaborate and create
means learners use and can develop a wide range of
literacy skills.
Collaboration encourages creativity
Using collaborative tools can develop creative and entrepreneurial skills
Being where learners are
Using social networking services sends a clear message to learners that you are aware of the types of spaces they enjoy online.

Negative Views/Potential Risks
Blocking and filtering sites because of perceived inappropriate content
Abuse and mismanagement of online presence
Misunderstanding the nature of online environment
Data protection and copyright concerns
Learning about e-safety issues

Tips for Online Safety
Do not publicly post your personal address, phone number, private info. Remember, these are public spaces.
Change passwords often.
Do not post anything that you don’t want others to see or know.
Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported

Tips for Online Safety
Beware of Phishing (Phishing is a method used by fraudsters to try to get your personal information, such as your username and password, by pretending to be a site you trust. )
Always look at the URL of the page you are directed to login to make sure that it stays in the website, prior to login.
People are not always who they say they are. Be careful about adding strangers to your friends list; remember, it is OK to deny a friend request.

Contact fe.verzosa@dlsu.edu.ph Questions?

Social Networking Literacy Skills: Recasting the Reader Services Librarians' Competencies in the 21st century

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