Library News, Reviews, and Views
Thursday, May 23, 2013, 2:00-3:00 PM ET How does social media impact on our view of dictionaries and the development of the English language? In this webcast, a dictionary editor, a reviewer from Library Journal, and a linguist, lexicographer, and language columnist come together to discuss and debate the topic Register now!
If there are over 1 billion people on Facebook and the Twitterverse can help topple governments, then it only makes sense that libraries would also be using these two social media channels to connect with their communities, right? Well yes and no. Libraries are using social media, that’s clear. According to Library Journal’s Survey on Public Library Marketing Methods and Best Practices, 86 percent of libraries said they were using social media. The top two social media platforms used by libraries were Facebook (99 percent) and Twitter (56 percent). Pinterest is making some gains, with 30 percent of libraries reporting that they are pinning. The problem is that 48 percent of libraries surveyed said they weren’t measuring their efforts at all. While the survey didn’t ask if libraries are getting fans to interact with them, most libraries I have spoken with lately have said they were still struggling with that.
Amazon’s recent acquisition of Goodreads will likely have a ripple effect on other social media sites targeted at book lovers, with LibraryThing and Bookish potentially drawing membership from any defectors unhappy with the sale. Meanwhile, many Kindle owners will be introduced to Goodreads for the first time, as the site’s social media functions are integrated with Kindle devices. “Goodreads was fully independent…. it made them the natural allies of people who wanted to avoid the consolidation of the industry, in particular publishers,” LibraryThing founder Tim Spalding told LJ.
As part the library’s efforts to raise awareness about poetry leading up to National Poetry Month in April, NYPL is encouraging aspiring poets to “follow @NYPL on Twitter, and submit three poetic Tweets in English as public posts on your Twitter stream between March 1 and 10, 2013.”
Open Access is only one part of a larger shift taking place in the academic world—particularly the sciences—says Richard Price, founder and CEO of academia.edu. Price argues that academia is moving toward a system where the credibility of research, publications, and ultimately researchers themselves, is gauged not by the prestige of the journal in which works are published, but by the usage, citations, and professional feedback that the works generate online.
The developers behind the Book Genome Project and Booklamp.org have launched a Kickstarter campaign for “The Game of Books,” a new digital card and role-playing game designed to reward young adults for reading. Funding raised by the campaign would be used to design, produce, and distribute 4,000 Game of Books starter kits to U.S. libraries. Founded in 2003, the Book Genome Project works with publishers to solve challenges in book discovery by using computer analysis of the language, theme, and characters in books.
EDUCAUSE and Internet2 are implementing a series of etextbook pilots, the latest of which just launched for the fall 2012 term at more than two dozen U.S. universities. Along with the nonprofit that aims to advance higher ed through information technology and the massive not-for-profit advanced networking consortium, the pilot is conducted in partnership with McGraw Hill Education and digital textbook distributor Courseload.
Facebook is in many ways an anti-model for libraries, but from this one action libraries can learn much. On May 24, 2007, Facebook became a platform: a set of resources — services, data, tools — that enable independent developers to create applications. Interesting possibilities open up if we think of libraries as platforms…open platforms. A library platform would be about developing knowledge and community, not primarily for developing software. Still, like an open software platform, it would:
For libraries, Tumblr is a free marketing tool—and depending on how much effort you want to put into crafting code or purchasing a theme, your Tumblr blog can look as professional as a your library’s website.
There are some specific steps you can take to attract an engaged readership (i.e. followers). It can be a slow first few months as you accumulate an audience and discover where you fit into the community, but the investment is worth it. Here’s a few guidelines to consider.
INFOdocket by Gary Price
