Thursday, March 14, 2013

Social networking tools for academic libraries




(Since starting the Science and Pharmacy blog, my Twitter site and Delicious, which is used for our "Selected Websites", I have become more convinced than ever that social networking is extremely important in terms of liaison and communication with our users.  It is not difficult to do, it is FUN, INTERESTING, STIMULATING & CHALLENGING, and the rewards are well worth the time spent!

 Some conclusions from this article
  • benefits of using these tools are perceived to outweigh the costs, which were reported to be minimal,
  • Social networking tools were perceived to be helpful in promoting library services and interacting with students.
  • helpful for internal staff communication
  • implementation of these tools by library staff was found to be challenged by limited time and perceived inadequacy of the staff to keep pace with the development of technology
  •   Provision of training for staff users was found to be inadequate, and this indicates a component that needs to be addressed by organizations that intend to launch social networking platforms effectively. 
"......The phenomenon of social networking tools is likely to continue evolving rapidly. As this occurs, libraries make up one group that may benefit from utilizing these tools in an evolving manner as well. Findings of this study suggest that factors related to time pressure and competencies of staff need to be addressed in order to encourage libraries to take advantage of benefits offered by these web technologies." 

1 comment:

Fiona Still-Drewett said...

Great post, you are setting a great example, re use of blogs, for staff at Rhodes University Library
see: http://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/