Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace offer opportunities for libraries to promote resources and services, build relationships with users, and provide reference services. Some current library uses include providing links to digital reference on their pages, communicating with users through private messages and comments, and posting questions from reference services on sites like Twitter. While social media raises questions around user expectations and public questioning, it also allows librarians to reuse answered content and potentially strengthen digital reference interactions.

1. Social Networking Sites and Reference Services Stephen Francoeur Baruch College New York, NY [email_address] Presentation at ALA Midwinter, Philadelphia, PA January 12, 2008

2. Social Networking Sites

3. Social Media Sites

4. Social Network Aggregators

5. Photo by Phil Hollenback Some web sites offer a welter of ways to connect.

6. Photo by Jessamyn West Some don’t.

7. Current Library Uses Promoting of Library Resources & Services Relationship Building Searching Library Resources Reference Services

8. Communicating in Facebook and MySpace Direct messages Bulletin boards Wall posts or Comments IM Screen name links MeeboMe

9. Libraries in MySpace and Facebook Links to digital reference services MeeboMe widget in Facebook Listed as ref communication channel on library web site

10. MeeboMe widget on Facebook page for Merrill-Cazier Library at Utah State University.

11. Facebook as communication channel on library web site.

12. Twitter feed of recently asked reference questions at Nebraska Library Commission.

13. Librarian Pages Academic librarians in FB mostly Same communication tools that library pages feature Librarian profile pages on library web sites

14. My profile page in Facebook.

15. Iris Jastram’s profile page on the library web site at Carleton College.

16. A librarian’s Facebook page is promoted on personal page on the library web site.

17. New Uses for Reference Answers Post screencasts on video sharing sites Post screen shots on image sharing sites User may then share link with others Librarians can re-use content

18. Do We Belong? Do users want us there? Do they expect us there? Do they think of social networking sites for information needs?

19. Do We Want Do Reference There? Questions asked publicly Servers not under our control Enhanced interpersonal relationship for digital reference interaction

20. boyd, danah m. and Nicole B. Ellison. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1). 3 January 2008 <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html>. Breeding, Marshal. “Librarians Face Online Social Networks.” Computers in Libraries 27.8 (2007): 30-32. De Rosa, Cathy, et al. Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World: A Report to the OCLC Membership . Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 2007. Deschamps, Ryan. “Facebook and Rapport.” The Other Librarian 10 September 2007. 3 January 2008. <http://otherlibrarian.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/facebook-and-rapport/>. Doctorow, Cory. “How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook.” InformationWeek 26 November 2007. 3 January 2008. <http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204203573>. “ Libraries and Social Networking: The Thoughts of Nine Experts about Our Increasingly Online Lives.” NextSpace September 2007. 3 January 2008. <http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/007/1.htm>. Lawson, Dawn. “Taking the Library to Users: Experimenting with Facebook as an Outreach Tool.” Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries . Ed. Laura B. Cohen. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2007. Mack, Daniel, Amy Behler, Beth Roberts, and Emily Rimland. “Reaching Students with Facebook: Data and Best Practices.” E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship 8.2 (2007). 9 January 2008. <http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v08n02/mack_d01.html>. Mathews, Brian. “Do You Facebook? Networking with Students Online.” College and Research Libraries News 67 (2006): 306-307. Miller, Sarah Elizabeth and Lauren A. Jensen. “Connecting and Communicating with Students on Facebook.” Computers in Libraries 27.8 (2007): 18-22. Schroeder, Stan. “20 Ways To Aggregate Your Social Networking Profiles.” Mashable . 17 July 2007. 7 January 2008. <http://mashable.com/2007/07/17/social-network-aggregators/>.