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My first thoughts upon starting these readings (after being made dizzy by all of the software mentioned in Roush's article) have to do with how to smoothly incorporate social software into library services. At the academic library where I did my co-op a lot of students were still at the “where do you keep the books?” stage well into the second term. As we discussed ideas for building a new catalogue that would allow students to tag records and create personal libraries, the big concern was “will anyone use it?” That university’s professional programs have integrated library courses, where bibliographic instruction is part of students’ coursework; it is not such a challenge to keep these students informed of new library services. To reach the rest of the university community, a good marketing plan will be essential.It will also be important to make sure that social software is intuitive and easy to use, and that it fits as seamlessly as possible with the library website and catalogue.
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Andrea,
I agree with you that the use of social software should be carefully thought out before implementing it in any library! This was a topic in my Academic Libraries course a couple of terms ago, and what I took away from the discussion was that there does have to be a recognized need/use for the implementation of social software in a library's services. Or at least, as you say, a good marketing plan to make sure students and faculty know that it is there, what it is good for, and how to use it.
Hello Andrea,
I also agree with your argument that marketing is essential in the promotion of using social software. I also believe that this argument is not limited to academic libraries, but it can translate to any form of library. I am currently working in a special library (corporate), where some people are skeptical about implementing social software into their everyday work-lives, because of privacy issues. They believe that if their information is available online, that this poses security risks. I believe that as information professionals, we should educate these skeptics on the benefits that social software can have in libraries, and market it as a safe and participatory technological development.
Thanks!
Jennifer
Hey Andrea,
I agree with your post 100%, while at the same time I feel that really understanding your user needs/information seeking behaviour should come before marketing or implementation.
While on coop at a government library I was asked to present a plan on incorporating social software into the library. I found this task daunting as there had never been a survey of who used the library, let alone statistics on how it was being used. I think these kinds of issues need to be addressed first, when this has been done I'm all for incorporating social software... if it facilitates or enhances the clients experience. I don't think it is necessary to incorporate social software into a library as an end in itself.