Libraries & Facebook Pages [new journal article]

My colleague Ligaya Ganster and I recently published an article on the use of Facebook Pages in an academic library setting. The article discusses the planning and implementation process, in addition to pros and cons of using this social networking tool. Marketing strategies are also provided.

Expanding Beyond our Library Walls: Building an Active Online Community through Facebook has been published in volume 3, issue 2 of the Journal of Web Librarianship. An abstract is available here.

Note: this article is not freely accessible on the Web. For access, your library must subscribe to the journal; or, speak with your librarian about inter-library loan possibilities. The article can also be purchased on the JWL web site. Sorry, friends :(

What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You

The Advertising Age article, What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You, discusses how a recent "Anderson Analytics Survey Reveals Consumers' Likely Interests, Buying Habits, Media Consumption." From the article:

Today 110 million Americans, or 60% of the online population use social networks, and that number is fairly conservative, because instead of counting unique users or everyone who has an account, as many estimates do, the Anderson study counted only people who have used a social network at least once in the past month.

The article goes on to discuss how users feel about brands being on social networking sites; whether individuals really do friend or fan brands; and more.

It's an interesting read! Check out the entire article here.

Student Soldiers and the Library

The Rochester City Newspaper recently published an article about student veterans. The article, Student Solidiers, appeared in the June 24-30, 2009 edition of the paper. It's also available online.

From an academic librarian perspective, we should be making an effort to provide outreach to these types of students. In many cases, these are students whom do not have research skills, but are determined to study hard and get good grades. Many of these veteran soldiers are also unfamiliar with the technologies in libraries today. In the article, SUNY Brockport* student Krista Englert mentions:

When I went to college, there wasn't an Internet. Everything was done using books. I talk about going to the library and using the card catalog, and everybody looks at me like, 'What the hell is that?'

If you have a chance, I encourage you to read the article and think about the veteran population at your own college or University.


*SUNY Brockport is now known as The College at Brockport

Photo attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/ / CC BY 2.0