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

4. Face-to-Face
Social
Networking in
the Library

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)

14. Facebook
experiences

15. Source
Group
page

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

22. Ujlibscience Profile page
http://twitter.com/ujlibscience

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

27. LinkedIn:
Contacts

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.)

29. http://ujscienceslibrarynews.wordpress.com/

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.

34. SOCIAL
NETWORKING
DESKTOP GOES
MOBILE

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)

41. http://mashable.com/2010/11/12/social-media-parenting-comic/

42. Pavlinka Kovatcheva
E-mail: pkovatcheva@uj.ac.za
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