Re: Facebook for Library Outreach : Don't Be Left In The Dust...

The problem may be that we misunderstand these (virtual)
places.

I doubt the patrons of an average bar would welcome
libraries if we  
tried to set up shop there, and not just because we'd get
nitpicky  
about the weekly trivia games. Bars and libraries are both
social  
spaces, but that doesn't make them equivalent spaces.
Whether  
libraries belong in Facebook anymore than they belong in my
local bar  
is still an open question in my mind (one major factor is
that FB is  
working to make itself a social applications platform,
something that  
should have all of us paying attention).

That doesn't mean Facebook and other social applications
don't matter.  
Quite to the contrary, so let me say it again: Social
Applications  
Still Matter To Libraries.

One giant lesson we can take from the entire history of the
internet  
is that _social_ matters. There have been blips and bubbles
where we  
lost sight of it, but the internet spread because of social 

applications like email and chat. And more than Ajax and
rounded  
corners, web 2.0 has been all about Social. And now we find
it  
everywhere. Flickr defines itself as a photo sharing site,
but it only  
works because of the social features there. And though
Facebook allows  
image sharing, the different purposes of the two sites is
clear to any  
who use them.

It is essential that we build social features into our
libraries.  
Comments, easy linkability (short, sensical URLs), and
findability in  
search engines are must haves in our systems. But that isn't
enough.  
We also need outstanding librarians to breath life into
them.  
Librarians who can speak in a post-Cluetrain voice, and be
accepted  
and respected in Facebook, Second Life, and in the comment
threads in  
our own libraries.


--Casey Bisson
__________________________________________

Information Architect
Plymouth State University
Plymouth, New Hampshire
http://MaisonBisson.com
ph: 603-535-2256


On Jan 14, 2008, at 8:56 AM, Suzanne Chapman wrote:

> I think it just means that some students don't equate
social  
> networking with
> research or being productive. This may change over the
next few  
> years or
> perhaps something new will come out that will be better
suited for  
> both
> social and educational purposes.
>
> Some students are just now starting to figure out that
it may not be  
> a good
> idea to post compromising pictures of themselves on the
web - so the  
> idea
> that they'd "friend" some librarian is
understandably weird.
>
> -suzanne
>
>
>
> On 1/14/08 8:19 AM, "Vaughn-Tucker, Dani A."
> <dvaughntuckerosterhout.lib.pa.us> wrote:
>
>> So does this mean that librarians/information
professionals should
>> consider throwing in the towel when it comes to
using current social
>> networking sites?  Or, could this be this
generation's reaction to  
>> the
>> older generation's reaction to using the telephone
for reference
>> services?  Probably a stretch, but I'm sure there
were people back in
>> the day who were saying, "If I want library
assistance, I'll go  
>> into the
>> library.  I don't want to call'em up."
>>
>> I think using social networking sites is a
proactive option that  
>> should
>> be used without being intrusive into the lives of
the patrons (e.g.
>> library's probably should not actively friend
patrons, but should  
>> allow
>> patrons to friend them).
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dani
>>
>> "Success is nothing without someone you love
to share it with..."  
>> Billy
>> Dee Williams in Mahogany
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org
>> [mailto:web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org] On Behalf
Of Gerry Mckiernan
>> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 5:14 PM
>> To: lita-lala1.ala.org; asis-Lasis.org; web4libwebjunction.org
>> Subject: [Web4lib] Facebook for Library Outreach :
Don't Be Left In  
>> The
>> Dust...
>>
>> ***APOLOGIES FOR RECEIPT OF DUPLICATE POSTINGS***
>> Colleagues/
>>
>> I have discovered A Most Interesting Post That Has
Thrown Chills Up  
>> My
>> Liver [
>>
>> [University of Michigan Survey] / Posted December
15, 2007 /
>> userslib.com
>>
>> QUESTION: If you could contact a librarian via
Facebook or MySpace  
>> for
>> help with your research, would you? If not, why?
>>
>> Data/Analysis
>>
>> A total of 23% of respondents stated that *yes* or
*maybe* they
>> would be interested in contacting a librarian via
these two social
>> networking sites.
>>
>> Undergrads had a slightly higher than average
percentage of 34%.
>>
>> Nearly half of the total respondents stated they
would not be
>> interested, but for various reasons - the biggest
reason being that  
>> they
>> feel the current methods (in-person, email, IM) are
more than
>> sufficient. 14% said no because they felt it was
inappropriate or  
>> that
>> Facebook/MySpace is a social tool, not a research
tool.
>>
>> Links / Graphics / And More at
>>
>> [
>> http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com
/2008/01/data-students-facebook-
>> library-outreach.html
>> ]
>> [ http://onli
nesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/ ]
>>
>> Thanks to Suzanne Chapman, interface and user
testing specialist for
>> the University of Michigan Library*s Digital
Library Production
>> Service, and Team !!!
>>
>>> From A Snowing Central Iowa ...
>>
>> /Gerry
>>
>> Gerry McKiernan
>> Associate Professor
>> Science and Technology Librarian
>> Iowa State University Library
>> Ames IA 50011
>>
>> gerrymckiastate.edu
>>
>> There is Nothing More Powerful Than  An Idea Whose
Time Has Come
>> Victor Hugo
>> [ h
ttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ]
>>
>> Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West
Wind Blows
>>
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>
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On Jan 14, 2008 8:52 PM, Casey Bisson <cbissonplymouth.edu> wrote:
> I doubt the patrons of an average bar would welcome
libraries if we
> tried to set up shop there, and not just because we'd
get nitpicky
> about the weekly trivia games. Bars and libraries are
both social
> spaces, but that doesn't make them equivalent spaces.

Oooh. This is going to be off-topic, but I can't resist. A
couple of
years ago, I learned that there are a number of public
libraries in
the US that got their start in places where men would
typically gather
socially -- often taverns, sometimes athletic clubs,
oft-times both --
and create a shared reading library as a means of
self-improvement.

Here's a representative example describing how these worked.
I find
this a fascinating bit of history.
http://www.northfieldpubliclibrary.org/dmlhistory.htm

In 1813, Northfield was a prosperous village of shops and
farms and
multiple small manufacturers. As the nation and the town
turned its
attention to the War of 1812, a small group of residents met
in
Houghton's Tavern and formed the Social Library corporation.
Led by
Thomas Power, a young lawyer from Boston, the Northfield
Social
Library was the first in the county to be formed under a
1798 act of
the General Court which granted the "proprietors"
of such a library
the right "to manage the same."

The original proprietors of the Northfield Social Library
included
members of some of the town's oldest and most prominent
families.
Meeting for the first time on February 4, 1813, the
proprietors each
paid $4--then roughly a month's salary for a day laborer-for
the
privilege of membership in the Social Library. That money,
plus fines
for lost or overdue books, went to the purchase of books. By
the end
of 1813, the library listed seventy works of non-fiction,
all housed
at Houghton's Tavern, located conveniently in the center of
town. By
1825, the number of titles held by the Social Library had
risen to
500, many of them of a religious nature, perhaps a
reflection of the
tastes of the chair of the purchasing committee, the
Reverend Thomas
Mason.

Fifty years later, by which time the Social Library had
relocated to
the former Parson boot factory on the southern end of Main
Street, the
shareholders voted to relinquish their control of the now
almost
thousand volume collection. In 1878, the proprietors of the
Northfield
Social Library leased to the town for a period of 900 years
the
contents of the library, "on condition that the town
spend at least
$100 a year for new books." The town agreed to these
terms and the
Northfield Public Library was soon opened in Town Hall until
such time
that a generous benefactor would come forward and provide a
suitable
building. Twenty years later, such a benefactor made
possible the
construction of the building now known as the Dickinson
Memorial
Library. His name was Elijah Marsh Dickinson.

Tom
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