Presentation to Gold Coast Library Network on Nov. 5, 2010 in San Luis Obispo, CA. Best practices in social networking using Facebook, Twitter, texting/instant messaging, blogs, Flickr, bookmarking, wikis, YouTube, podcasting, and RSS feeds. All should link back to your library website.
7. Iowa City PL
http://www.facebook.com/icpubliclibrary
Harvard Law School Library
http://www.facebook.com/hlslib
St Petersburg College Library
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Petersburg
FL/St-Petersburg-College-MM-Bennett-
Libraries/210015118640
Library of Congress
http://www.facebook.com/libraryofcongress
8. Upload videos or pictures, post events,
link to online catalog
Meebo widget for chat reference
Search app for online catalog, JSTOR,
WorldCat, Delicious, LibGuides
17. Instant messaging
Add Meebo instant messaging software
widget to solve the problem of unsuccessful
catalog search: Topeka & Shawnee County PL
http://catalog.tscpl.org/
Paste Meebo widget wherever the library
wants a virtual presence
19. Blogs
Announce library events, book
recommendations, new services
Add sidebars with RSS feeds, photos,
calendars, Meebo widgets, and other
information
(Tagtmeier 9; Sodt 103)
20. Blogs
PCLS Readers' Advisory Blog
http://pclsreaders.blogspot.com/
Greensboro PL current events blog
http://greensborolibrary.wordpress.com/
21. The Library of Congress' photostream
Over 3000 photos with tags, comments field,
ability to make notes
Used comments from Flickr Commons Project
in 2009 to identify mystery photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_cong
ress/
22. Bookmarking
Delicious is the most popular bookmarking
platform
Lansing Public Library 771 bookmarks
http://www.delicious.com/lansingpubliclibrary
23. Wiki
Good for special events, because they’re easy
to update
Use for reviews of book and other materials
Use for research guides
Kreitzman Library wiki
http://library2.norwich.edu/guide/index.php/M
ain_Page
24. YouTube
Create a library video tour to welcome patrons
Topeka & Shawnee Public Library channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopekaLibrary
25. Podcasts/Videocasts
Works like an RSS feed
Patrons listen or watch on their computer,
iPod, or MP3 payer
Streaming video for visiting authors, lectures,
special events in the library, tutorials
Darien Library
http://www.darienlibrary.org/taxonomy/term
/51
26. RSS feeds
Allows patrons to subscribe to websites, blogs,
podcasts, anything that provides a feed
MIT Libguides
http://libguides.mit.edu/virtualref
Read feeds with Google Reader
28. It All Leads to Your Website
The library website should
be an entry point to social
media
Don’t make them search
for you on Facebook or
Twitter
29. Further Reading
“Ask a Librarian” [King County Library System]. Computers in Libraries
Nov./Dec. 2009: 42.
Twitter and Facebook are used with public and media: two different tiers.
Breeding, Marshall. “Taking the Social Web to the Next Level.” Systems
Librarian Sept 2010: 28-30.
How a library engages with any external site should be executed in a way that results in an overall
net gain in the use of its own resources and services. Assess performance by using URL-shortening
services such as bit.ly.
Grabowska, Kasia. “Social Media Best Practices for Libraries.” Tame the
Web 18 Mar. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Kabani, Shama Hyder. Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build
Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue. Dallas: Benbella
Books, 2010.
Practical book on using various social media, with individual chapters on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, video, and creating a social media policy.
30. Some more…
King, David Lee, and Stephanie Willen Brown. “Emerging
Trends, 2.0. and Libraries.” Serials Librarian 56 (2009):32-
43.
Explanation of RSS and feed readers, tagging, blogs, Flickr, YouTube, LibraryThing,
Twitter, podcasting,
Luo, Lili. “Chat Reference Competencies: Identification from a
Literature Review and Librarian Interviews.” Reference
Services Review 35.2 (2007): 195-209.
Use short answers and keep in contact with words.
Peltier-Davis, Cheryl. “Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Library User 2.0,
Librarian 2.0: Innovative Services for Sustainable Libraries.”
Computers in Libraries Nov./Dec. 2009: 16-21.
Good examples of libraries using social media services.
31. Even more reading…
Sodt, Jill M., and Terri Pedersen Summey. “Beyond the
Library’s Walls: Using Library 2.0 Tools to Reach out to All
Users.” Journal of Library Administration 49 (2009): 97-109.
Explains library use of Facebook apps, wikis, blogs, podcasting, RSS feeds, social bookmarking, and instant
messaging.
Sutton, Paul. “10 Reasons You’re Not Getting Followers on
Twitter.” Social Media Today. 6 July 2010. Web. 26 Oct.
2010.
Incomplete profile, automated tweets
Tagtmeier, Curt. “Facebook vs. Twitter: Battle of the Social
Network Stars.” Computers in Libraries Sept. 2010: 6-10.
Concludes that your library should use both.
Why bother with social networking? May 2010 social networking by age group
More than half of them log on at least once a day
Twitter 140 characters what can you do with that?
Andrea anecdote--Forgive fines, free booksale book
Twitter stream should be 30% conversational @replies, 30% retweets and 40% interesting broadcast tweets
Preferred mode of communication for adolescents/young adults/students
Best w/my daughter
Some ILS systems have direct SMS gateway and natively send texts to patrons
ILS without SMS gateway: give it equivalent email address for cellphone, 160 character limit on messages
PCLS kept current, link to website, catalog search, email subscription to blog feed, Ask a Librarian link, outside links, other PCLS blog links / Greensboro PL current events, links, tags, RSS feed, email feed