Week 10: Making the Library Social Again!

I finally get a topic that I actually feel like I know the material for beforehand (in spite of my belief at the beginning of the term I had lots of Web 2.0 experience). :)

The debates for this week's readings were really interesting to me, not only because I'm a social networking site fanatic, but also because I generally consider myself a proponent of freedom of access and speech.

The issue of teengagers using social networking sites discussed by Roush, Barrett and Jackson and Boyd is an especially polarized one for me.  On the one hand, I favour indivduals being allowed to access whatever types of Web access/programs/information they want, but I can certainly empathize with the concerns of parents and schools.  Not only are potential predators on the Web, but there are also numerous scams and misinformation about subjects lurking on the Web.

From a school or library perspective, it can also be frightening to allow children and youth to access social networking sites because the school or library might be held accountable should a child be put in danger due to a Website accessed there.  They, and many other places of learning and work (such as my own summer co-op employer) might also be concerned with the amount of bandwidth of lost productivity due to social networking sites (I can personally attest to how time-consuming these sites can be if you allow yourself to frequent them!).

Although these are legitimate concerns from an economic and performance perspective, they may not always be wise from a morale perspertive.  I personally feel that when an employer or school blocks social networking (or even e-mail) sites from users, it suggests that to users that they are not trusted to be able to moderate their own activities, even if the sites are blocked due to bandwidth issues.

Another thing to consider is the relevance of social networking sites to businesses.  These sites can be an excellent networking tool, as demonstrated by the Common Craft Show but they can also be used to find and relay information quickly, in a similar way to instant messenging or chat services.  For service-based organizations, there is great potential to "brand" the company on social networking sites, making information easily accessible to clients while offering your consumers the opportunity to provide quick and easy feedback about the organization.  The libraries in this week's case studies have shown quite a bit of innovation in their Facebook groups, for example, offering up-to-date listings of events and even search bars to social network site users.

Although there are concerns about low usage of social networking library sites, it is important to remember that these services are often free to set up and relatively easy to maintain.  As I often point out, if we truly care about our users, we should provide them with as many varied experiences as possible in as many mediums as possible, so that users of different comfort and skill levels all have an access point to the library.

This is all good in principle, of course, but what if the worst does happen?  What if a teenager should encounter a predator while using MySpace at the library?  What if a poentially dangerous predator uses Facebook at the library?  These are very worrisome sitiations and I believe that if we truly want to provide equal and open access (which I personally desire), then I think it is very important that we also provide information literacy training to users and make every effort to assure that anyone is using library resources within the boundaries of the law.  Unfortunately, this may involve some layer of surveillience (if only occassional "walk bys" to remind users to be wary of what they do online), but it is for the best not only for the library, but also for the community as a whole.  I must also admit that this paragraph is rather "doom and gloom" and is more worst case scenario than a situation that librarians are likely to encounter on a daily basis.

On a lighter note, I've never really identified with  the concern of adding professors or bosses to Facebook, let alone librarians. :) I generally have nothing to hide from those I work with and should I need to criticise something they do, then I can merely set a privacy filter to keep those I don't wish to read away.  The comment about being uncomfortable should a professor "poke" you also made me chuckle.  As a self-admitted poke-monger, I've never really gotten why people get so creeped out about the idea of poking.  I mean, I guess some people add a sexual connotation to it, but given that it's virtual at worst, it doesn't seem like something to get in a huff about to me.  But maybe I'm just too relaxed about such things!

To sum up my thoughts, although libraries need to provide quality and service via social networking sites to stay fresh and relevant to the needs of users, they must also be careful to protect the safety and privacy of their users and, in some cases, balance bandwidth and productivity issues.  Although it takes some level of planning and effort, it is quite possible to provide social networking sites in the library while also steering clear of "the bottom line".  In many cases, I think librarians have already been well aware of the bottom line, so the only real challenges of integrating social networking sites are cost and expertise-related challenges.  Given the low cost of giving a library a presence in the social networking universe, I think it's only reasonable that we as librarians at least offer social networking sites as a portal to learning about our library and its services.

Really... what have we got to lose?!?