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Social Media Library contains the first ever directory of influential blogs read in the UK.
Each blog is ranked in terms of its influence and its visibility in search engines. Providing you with all the necessary information to determine which bloggers to engage with. Full contact details for each blog are also provided.
The site has links to podcasts, forums, blogs and social networks.
Twitter and libraries
Twitter is a free communication, social networking and microblogging site, where people write short updates (140 characters) and communicate with others via their Twitter website, SMS, email, IM, facebook and other social media sites. Messages appear on a persons twitter profile and can be viewed by their followers. Twitter let’s users write updates, review and respond to other people tweet messages. This type of messaging is often done at the person-to-person level and primarily used to share news and status reports.
What about librarians?
Twitter is very easy to use, free and a great networking tool that connects librarians with a range of practitioners and other libraries across North America. For instance, librarians use Twitter “to communicate at conferences and events and to keep up with developments in the field, and libraries have begun using it to promote their services” (iLibrarian, 2008). The types of users who would be part of a libraries twitter community, would most likely be users of twitter already-which opens up libraries to a whole new range of networks and contacts that they previously were not connected to.
How are libraries using Twitter?
Twitter is a successful promotional device for libraries, as it lets users know about new books/resources, connects with colleagues, tell patrons about services/special events- the list goes on. It also has various types of mapping tools that can help libraries evaluate their twitter activity and followers, and the types of networks they are apart off.
Microblogging is a rather new phenomena for libraries, yet quickly catching on. Some examples of libraries with twitter accounts include the Missouri River Regional Library and The Cleveland Public Library. Their twitter sites are updated regularly and often discuss services/events happening within the library. What I found interesting is that they both had a large following and asked innovative questions about library services-and people replied. This type of interaction shows they are connecting to their users and being interactive.
Twitter and marketing your library?
When looking at the Missouri River and The Cleveland Public Library websites , you would never know they were using twitter. Key to having a twitter account is letting your patrons know you have one. This type of social marketing tool should be seen on the libraries homepage, so patrons know it exists and can join. Libraries, then, can use twitter to market their services and engage potential users, but first they need to market that they are using twitter themselves. In addition, the Missouri and Cleveland can add a twitter link , with their IM and email links.
Missouri and Cleveland take note- a libraries twitter link should also be connected to their RSS feed, face book, MySpace page and/or any other social media communities that they may be apart off. Patrons who are part of twitter, will than know this application exists and join
I am an active twitter user and actively use it to exchange ideas, find out about new books and services by being connected to libraries twitter accounts. Yet, I am an upcoming librarian and actively search for these types of sites. Most twitter users would not and its up to the librarians to make sure they are connected to people outside of the library world.
Want to know about twitter-check out Twitter for Librarians: The Ultimate Guide
Resources and additional tools:
David Lee King: Twitter Explained for Librarians , or 10 ways to use Twitter
Library instruction Wiki on Twitter
Sarah Washburn-Library Twitter
Library Twitter Accounts:
What is Social Media?
“What does not include you, does not deserve you” Clay Shirkey
Social media “often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio”(Wikipedia, 2008). In many ways, social media is user centered and based upon building communities though the creation and maintenance of social networks, content and innovation.
Social media tools can take on many different forms, such as: instant messaging, youtube, social network sites, Wikipedia, podcasts, second life, crowd-sourcing and the list goes on. Libraries are beginning to integrate these tools into their programs , yet for libraries to become more relevant in today’s information society, requires them to implement a more pedagogical approach to learn with and from their users.
Key points: Libraries and Social media
Social media in practice
(Madden, 2008)
Are libraries ready?
They have to be! If libraries do not adopt these new social media models into their systems, they are in danger of breaking their ties with current and potential users. In response to this, libraries need to re-market themselves and communicate to people their integral role they play in society—this is where social media applications can help build awareness and connections with patrons.
What else needs to happen?
Libraries need to break free from their traditional service led structures and enter into a the new WEB 2.0 model of communication and network building. For example, once libraries collectively play a more active role online through the application of social media tools-the opportunities are endless.
The key to libraries success…
Partnerships with users and others non-libraries institutions, organizations, businesses and entrepreneurs are necessary and must be done collaboratively with other libraries. In a sense, social media and Web 2.0 encourage libraries to create clusters with people who have similar ideas, passions, expertise, and knowledge in librarianship and information science. Another way to think about it is to imagine libraries spearheading an online incubator model filled with information professionals form various fields who all communicate and create projects on a regular basis together-this requires active user participation and input. This type of inclusive model creates opportunities that have not yet been realized in the library world.
What else?
There is a very active social media and information community emerging with the advent of WEB 2.0—libraries need to band together and play a participatory role in these spaces. Their voices are very active in the forums they have created-yet they are surprisingly silent in other spaces where people inhibit and this needs to change. Librarians need to stop preaching to the converted, thinking their hip because they created a Myspace account and become more active participants in the WEB 2.0 world we live in—before the web leaves us librarians behind.
Additional Resources and tools:
Youtube video: Social Media in Plain English
Helene Bowers presentation on: It’s Not About Us: Exploring Social Media Strategies in Libraries
Pew Internet Project : Social Media and Libraries: New applications for a new generation of users
Stephen Lighthouse, Blog: Libraries and Social Media
PPT presentation, Madden. Social Media and Libraries.
Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008: Clay Shirky presentation
Podcast: Social media and education: The Conflict between technology and institutional education, and the future. By Sarah Robbins-Bell, PhD Candidate at Ball State University.
Video: Internet Librarian 2008: Howard Rheingold
Social Media and Libraries 
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