Librarians, Libraries And Facebook

Whose space is it anyway? Librarians, Libraries and Facebook Dr Jane Secker Centre for Learning Technology London School of Economics and Political Science Facebook: a network, a research tool, a world? Liverpool John Moores University. 24 th October 2008

Overview of talk
LASSIE project overview
Social software and libraries - context
Based on findings from case study (Jan 08) and recent results from a survey of librarians about Facebook
Library related applications
Library related groups
Use of Facebook pages
Issues and thoughts

LASSIE
Libraries and social software in education
Nine month project funded by University of London’s Centre for Distance Education
Several project partners
Literature review to provide a snapshot of activity
Five case studies to explore different technologies
Lassie filming on location in Florida. Photo courtesy State Archive of Florida

Project partners

Project Overview
Literature review of libraries and social software and distance learners (draft and final version)
Review of web 2.0 tools and what libraries are currently doing
Five case studies (including Libraries and Facebook case study ) using social software to investigate how these technologies might enhance the experience of the distance (and full time) learner
Students were on UoL External Programme
Tried to provide real evidence about what works and what is useful

Libraries and web 2.0
A lot of enthusiasm for new technology in some parts the library community: blogs, wikis, social bookmarking etc.
New technology can:
Reach new audiences
Engage with users more effectively
Enhance services by allowing greater interaction and feedback
Many issues including: privacy / data protection, staff development

What is Library 2.0? From Michael Habib’s Flickr site (Licensed under Creative Commons): http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=222296001&size=o

Libraries and social networking – the literature
OCLC report (2007) suggested libraries didn’t have a role to play in social networking
Despite this relatively high usage of sites such as Facebook by librarians
Groups used for professional networking
Pages can be created by organisations
Many library related applications in Facebook
Survey of senior librarians (JISC, 2008) – one third felt academic libraries could use social networking to engage students, but most were unsure - especially in HE

Libraries and Facebook: the case study
Completed in January 2008
Review library related applications, use of Facebook pages and groups
Also reflected on personal /project team use of Facebook during the project
Report available on LASSIE website
All references in delicious account

Booksharing tools: Books iread and BookShare
Catalogue searches: COPAC, Worldcat
Electronic resources: JSTOR
Librarian application
LibGuides
LSE Catalogue integration (pilot)

Facebook groups for librarians
General groups for librarians
Librarians and Facebook
FacebookAppsForLibraries
Groups associated with professional organisations
CILIP UC&R Group
Groups associated with events / conferences
LILAC conference

Library Facebook pages
Libraries started using pages after launched late 2007
Early indications suggested they were largely experimental
In Jan 08 - 60 academic library pages. By Oct 08 – 192 pages (Source: Facebook search)
Basic library information provided with links to website
Some offer more sophisticated pages…
Key advantage is you can keep your fans up to date!

University of Warwick – a case study
Library links provide subject specific information for library users
RSS feed from library blog to keep page looking fresh
Various library related applications on the page including a customised catalogue search
They don’t send out too many updates to fans – only really important things
Got help and advice from other librarians when setting up the page - experiment rather than spend lots of time planning a Facebook page

University of Wolverhampton – a case study
Links to useful sections of the library website
RSS feeds to keep page fresh – from various Learning Centre blogs
InfoBites events advertised and also link to the Google Calendar
JSTOR and COPAC searches on the page
Updates which are sent to all fans on a regular basis

Results from survey
Advertised survey via blog / mailing list
Difficult to gauge how many libraries are using Facebook in total but growing!
Mainly UK libraries responded to survey although a few others
Not only academic libraries using Facebook
Clear that many believe there are good reasons for not using it!

Why use Facebook?
Through my own personal use of Facebook it was becoming clear that an increasingly broad range of people were using the website on a regular basis. A Library Fan Page on Facebook would therefore 'place' the Library where a diverse market already existed, rather than expecting people to make a 'special trip' to our own website. The fact that we can directly contact our fans was also a prime motivator in setting up and maintaining the fan page.

Other motivations
We're keen to open up access to the library and its services through as many avenues as possible. For instance, we have catalogue and MetaLib search widgets that can be placed into Facebook, Pageflakes, Netvibes, etc. Essentially, as far as practical we want the library to be where the users are (whether they choose to use those resources or not is then up to them).

What purpose?
Largely a promotional exercise / raise profile of library / keep people up to date
Many open minded and viewing it as an experiment
More informal and friendly feel than traditional library website?

The main aim is to disseminate information about new services, developments and events. We use it in a similar way to a blog by sending updates to fans which they receive from their Facebook home page. We also have details of our information skills sessions within Facebook and use the page to link to our webpages and bring our blogs together in an aggregated RSS feed on the page.

What services are offered
Basic info and links to website
Advertising library events and news
Other services included:
Access to library catalogue
Enquiry services
In-house library applications
Videos and RSS feeds

Publicising the page
Word of mouth a key channel
Links on library website important
Some libraries have deliberately not publicised the page
Others use tools such as their blog to promote the page

Is it working?
50% of respondents had more than 100 fans, one had over 1000!
95% of respondents felt the Facebook page was useful although many not clear why!
The library with over 1000 fans organised a special event which 70 people attended!
Many feel relatively low levels of investment were needed so it is worthwhile
A need for feedback from students though?

Other web 2.0 technologies
Blogs used by 77% of respondents as were RSS feeds
Delicious (social bookmarking) also very popular - 72%
Flickr and Twitter used by some
You Tube, wikis, Page Flakes and Library Thing also mentioned by others

Facebook and libraries – the issues
Seems to be a ground-up movement of librarians not directed by senior managers (nor by students!)
No access in some sectors: NHS, some public libraries
Personal / professional ‘face’ causes issues for some people
Belief that not welcome / not appropriate to be in a social space

Facebook rewards
Most librarians stress the investment is minimal
Libraries seem to be getting reasonably high numbers of fans
Perhaps helps convince the ‘Google Generation’ the library is still relevant
Facebook is leading to collaboration and real enthusiasm in some parts of library profession

Whose space is it anyway? Thanks for listening [email_address] http://elearning.lse.ac.uk/blogs/socialsoftware/ http://delicious.com/lse_lassie/socialnetworking/

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Librarians, Libraries And Facebook

by Jane Secker on Oct 23, 2008

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