A Social Networking Primer for Libraries

Citation

Mason, D. (2011), "A Social Networking Primer for Libraries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 280-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471111125258

This is a book that perhaps points to the future of technical books of this kind because it is only one part of a multimedia offering. Many books have a link to a web page on the publisher's site for erratum and changes to references: this book comes with a Web page plus a companion wiki to provide more details on the topic that you can contribute to, a site for podcasts, a blog by the author where you can discuss the book with the author, and a Facebook page and Twitter feed where you can exchange ideas about the topic.

This book aims to show librarians how to create a presence in the social networking mindspace. It is aimed at the absolute beginner and shows how to create and manage your library's footprint in cyberspace. The premise is that libraries have the opportunity to join in a new and exciting way to reach their patrons and to attract a class of patrons who are otherwise hard to reach. The major obstacle to this happening is the lack of knowledge and enthusiasm of librarians. This primer is designed to provide the basic understanding that a librarian needs to get started on creating their internet presence.

Chapter one describes what is happening with social networks. Chapter two is about how to get your colleagues and administrators enthused and up to speed, and how to choose the right type of social networking site to target. Chapter three is an in‐depth look at how Facebook and MySpace work and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each from the point of view of a library. This chapter shows the absolute beginner how to create an account, how to navigate the applications, how to manage their profiles – all the basic stuff that needs to be done to look professional. It also has strategies and techniques for the advanced users that allow the library to exploit the whole gamut of communication methods. Chapter four focuses on marketing aspects with step‐by‐step instructions on how to create a library marketing campaign for your chosen audience. Chapter five is a few pages on net etiquette and how to not alienate your potential market. Chapter six suggests ways of monitoring how well you are doing.

For anyone familiar with the basics of social networking sites much of the material in this book will appear simplistic but it is all good advice for anyone wanting to enter the social networking area. However, the book focuses purely on the mechanical aspects of creating a cyberpresence, and skips over the thorny issues of the disconnect between the typical librarian and the average social networking user in terms of age and education and everything else. It also skips issues such as the fact that social networks are social, that is they are not business to business but person to person, and there is no advice to librarians about the reality of having to be a personal contact 24 hours a day, or about how to measure the return on effort or the reality of adding this responsibility to an already busy librarian. The book does cover the basics, and the online features are very good, but it is not really sufficient.