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.

1. Please
Mute
Your
Cellphone

2. Social Media in Libraries:
What are Libraries Doing?
Tina Lau
Cuesta College Library
November 5, 2010

3. A lot to choose from

6. 500 Million
Active Users

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

9. vs.
Multiple applications
vs.
140 characters

10. Give something
of value

11. Attract followers
Use good keywords in
texts
Send direct messages
Max 140 characters

12. Retweet posts made by other
users to highlight good
books/movies/CDs in your
collection

13. Alvin Sherman Library
http://twitter.com/alvinshermanlib
University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign Undergraduate Library
http://twitter.com/askundergrad
Ada Library (Boise, ID)
http://twitter.com/adalib

14. Texting/
Instant Messaging
72% of cellphone owners
send or receive text
messages (May 2010)

16. Texting/Instant Messaging
Text reference service (Meebo,
Questionpoint)
Overdue notices

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

18. Blogs
Teenage blogging has declined
from 30% in 2006 to 14% now
11% of adults over 30 blog

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

27. Twitterfeed
Put any RSS feed into
Twitterfeed, repost
automatically to
Twitter or Facebook

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.

32. “Just Do It.”--Nike