Of course social media has its benefits. But there are certainly those practitioners in libraries and archives who wax sceptically about this “fad.”
Top 10 Reasons Why I think Libraries & Archives should expand not limit their use of social media:
1. An on-line presence today is critical- we’ve all heard the phrase if you or your institution isn’t on-line you don’t exist!
2. Using Twitter and Facebook are free! Libraries and archives operate in a perpetual state of being under-funded and under-staffed. Posting using either of these tools takes less than 5 minutes of your time and can have a big pay off in user response.
3. It’s fun! I love working at the Mount Holyoke College Archives & Special Collections. Posting pictures to the library’s Facebook account is a great and rewarding part of my day.
4. We don’t know who we might reach when using social media tools. Someone might re-tweet you, or add your Facebook post to their status feed and then you’ve spoken to your connections as well as countless others in ways that traditional forms of outreach do not allow.
5. By becoming active members of the Twitter or Facebook community you expand your network and community of colleagues. Working in an archives or library can be isolating if your department is small or certainly, if you’re a lone ranger. By participating in on-line forums you become part of a larger community, which is regarding and stimulating.
6. When using social media we add another feather in the proverbial cap of “remaining relevant in the 21st century”. Libraries and archives must adapt to the needs of our users. Many of our users have come to depend of social media for news and information.
7. Social media also allows for you the practitioner to observe and often comment on the work of others in our field. This adds a measure of external support, which foster support within our profession.
8. Did I mention it’s free???
9. Did I mention it’s quick and easy???
10. Did I mention it’s fun???
So get on out there and start utilizing social media tools!
Andrew Walsh says
I completely agree; it’s a great thing for libraries to do! I work as a grad assistant for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Libraries and I’ll be doing social media work for a new unit that is opening in January.
I’ve found Twitter and Facebook can also often be an excellent way to highlight special research guides or resources in your collections. Undergraduates are often unsure how to navigate the complicated maze of pages that often make up institutional library webpages, but you can easily provide a link right into that great new database you’ve just ordered or the “How to Start your Research” guide that will really help them. And best of all, you’re going into a much more familiar communication channel for them.
It’s very important that you carefully plan out a strategy for posting. Since the social media landscape is already so crowded, you need to work hard to grab your users’ attention!