Evaluative report

The final post of this online learning journal (OLJ) is in two parts:

Part A 

will evaluate three posts, specifically:

Module 2 OLJ activity: Social Bookmarking site - Pinterest

Module 3 OLJ activity: Building Academic library 2.0

Module 4 OLJ activity: Three reasons why libraries should be using social media

 with regard to the learning objectives of INF506:

• demonstrate an understanding of social networking technologies. 
• demonstrate an understanding of concepts, theory and practice of Library 2.0 and and participatory library service.
• critically examine the features and functionality of various social networking tools to meet the information needs of users.
• evaluate social networking technologies and software to support informational      and collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations.·
• demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, educational, ethical, and technical management issues that exist in a socially networked world, and how information policy is developed and implemented to support such issues

Part B 

will reflect on my development as a social net-worker and the implications for this development as an information professional.

~ / ~

Part A  

Demonstrate an understanding of social networking technologies.

I began this OLJ with the assertion that social networking represents a new way creating connections. The OLCL (2007) report concurs, suggesting that social media helps “both build new and relationships and maintain current relationships” (p. 23). The intervening seven years have seen an explosion in the cultural impact of social media (SM). Module 4 OLJ created an understanding that, while SM does create a “new space for libraries to have value” (Dankowski, 2013, p. 41) it is important to remember that it also offers potential for existing services and relationships to be revitalised and enhanced. OLJ entries have demonstrated my understanding of social networking technologies through an engagement with web 2.0 and SM platforms (Module 3 OLJ) and an engagement with social networks - facebook; bookmaking sites – Pinterest (Module 2 OLJ); media sharing - YouTube and Flikr; microblogging – twitter and Yammer and the social commentary of blogging. 

Demonstrate an understanding of concepts, theory and practice of Library 2.0 and participatory library service.

In the 2.0 world there can be no doubt that “libraries face challenges to innovate their services to stay relevant” (Scupola & Nicolajsen, 2013, p. 27). Module 3 OLJ highlighted five important ideas giving context to how Academic libraries might engage with social networking technologies as a way of offering an innovative service and assessing user needs. OLJ post Defining Librarian 2.0 revealed that, in 2008, new Australian librarians were still struggling to define themselves in the web 2.0 world because even librarians can feel “overwhelmed by the informational hydra of social media” (Steiner 2012. P.6).  Strategic planning, Steiner (2012) reminds us, “has long been tied to better success rates in a variety of organizations” (p. 6). A SM policy can be aligned to the strategic plan of the library to help the library adapt to stay relevant, understand users and market library services and resources. Sadly, such a policy can also cripple innovation as revealed in Module 4 OLJ.  By looking in depth at one particular platform, Module 2 OLJ was able to demonstrate ways libraries can get the balance right and leverage social media to market their services and interact with clients in a new way.

Critically examine the features and functionality of various social networking tools to meet the information needs of users.

SM has created an era of customer empowerment where the demand for “ready-to-use information” (De Beule, 2014, para 2) is extreme. Libraries now have a new playing filed full of elite athletes with which to compete. Module 4 OLJ offers a real life evaluation of social networking tools to meet the information needs of users in the way UTS Library has matched need with tool: community via facebook; communication via Twitter; instruction via YouTube and engagement via blogs. The UTS engagement with SM operates in a culture that both trusts and supports experimentation (Booth, Schofield, & Tiffen, 2012, p. 42). SM is used to “inform and engage with our [UTS] clients” (Booth, et al., 2012, p. 41) both staff and students

Module 2 OLJ demonstrates a critical examination of social bookmarking site, Pinterest to meet the needs of users by ranking it against other sites – commonly ranked within the top five –  and matching functionality to purpose. Follow-up OLJ posts show that Pinterest is functionally intuitive and many libraries such as NYPL use Pinterest effectively.  One major issue for Pinterest is copyright which can be addressed in a SM policy.

Evaluate social networking technologies and software to support informational and collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations.

Treem and Leonardi (2012) conducted research into the area of SM within organisations with the aim of understanding the implications for organisational procedures. They argue that social networking technologies such as “blogs, wikis, social networking sites, microblogs” (Treem and Leonardi, 2012, p. 143) are effective for information sharing in their ability to “afford new types of behaviors [sic] that were previously difficult to achieve” (p. 178). Module 4 OLJ provides examples of libraries using SM effectively to support the informational and collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations. NYPL has managed to parlay engagement with its SM campaigns, twitter/Pinterest into tangible results, eg 35% increase in library membership (Dankowski, 2013, P. 34). UTS Library offers a number of options for collaboration; Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc – that engage their clients. The comparison, in Module 4 OLJ, of libraries and their SM use also demonstrates what happens when libraries do not do it well and opened up new areas for investigation that were picked up in other OLJ posts. 

Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, educational, ethical, and technical management issues that exist in a socially networked world, and how information policy is developed and implemented to support such issues.

Module 4 OLJ comparison of three libraries revealed two social, ethical and technical issues relating to SM in libraries:  

1) the dangers of not having a social media presence 

2) the potential danger of a social media presence as it relates to corporate image. 

Penrith City (PC) Library was eliminated from the comparison because it did not appear to be leveraging SM - no presence on their website and iterations of PCLibrary SM were hidden. The SM policy for PC Council highlighted the ethical dilemma … how to empower staff engagement whilst protecting corporate image? Module 3 OLJ highlighted the culture of the perfect that disadvantages effective SM presence. The “shifting agency” (Weber, 2013, p. 289) that arises from loss of control poses ethical and organisational issues for management. A proscriptive SM policy, such as PCC’s, is an understandable an attempt to bridge the gap between what would be wonderful and what could be disastrous. Weber’s (2012) research leads him to argue that the “constrained agency” (p. 290) that results from an enforced SM policy can be counterproductive and confusing for employees, as appears to be the case for PCCouncil.

Part B

My development as a social networker as a result of studying INF506

The biggest development in me as a social networker has been in information sharing and collaborative workspaces. I, like many others I suspect, tend to think of the big three, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, when I think of social media. The information sharing potential of these three is massive but not necessarily applicable to all situations.  The first assignment for INF506 was extremely helpful in understanding the potential of other social networking technologies and software in the workplace. In identifying a need and matching a social software solution I gained valuable experience with the collaborative workspace of a wiki. This experience was especially significant as I had the opportunity to develop this site with a colleague, which turned a theoretical assignment into a real-world exercise that I can both add to my CV and use in a practical sense for the social media team in my workplace.

I investigated microblogging in the workplace and Grenfell’s (2011) comment that passive participation accounts for a large proportion of use (Typical behaviours, para. 3) resonated with me. I created an account with Yammer at my workplace but have not once contributed, and I am passionate about social media. For me microblogging is not an effective collaborative workspace with which to engage my colleagues. Twitter is more widely used and departments seem to engage more with each other there, however this is purely anecdotal, it would be interesting to conduct a survey to get some harder evidence. The library uses Twitter to engage with clients; however we are noticing reluctance in the area of staff buy-in. The resources I have been exposed to as a result of this subject will help me improve that.

I have always been as advocate for planning and I was surprised when my research led me to understand the potential, both positive and negative of a social media policy. It is clear to me now that a social media policy can give much needed guidelines relating to matching a need to a platform and aligning a social media service to the strategic plans of the organisation but I am now aware that it can also stifle innovation and silence an authentic voice. A balance must be struck between corporate self protection and staff empowerment.

The implications for my development as an information professional

As an avid user of social networking in my private life I have been an advocate for social media adoption in my workplace but I would have struggled to justify this position before undertaking INF506. In my experience in an academic library, social media is seen as a trendy adjunct to our information services, however, after investigating Web 2.0 library participatory services, I now see social media as an essential ,innovative service. The ideas captured in Module 3 OLJ have become a kind of mantra in my discussions with colleagues regarding social networking and its importance.

The adapt or die principle has become key to my approach and I see the culture of the perfect as directly opposing adaptation. This was evident when I was chatting to the Communications librarian at Penrith City Council. Their communications policy is so focused on the perfect that it leaves no room for innovation and with no social media presence on PC Library website I wonder what the long term effect on sustainability of the library service will be. Can libraries survive in the web 2.0 world without engaging in social media?

Where once I was hesitant about the role social media had to play in engagement I am now confident to discuss the culture of the perfect that lines itself up against innovation and empowerment of staff. As a result of my learning in INF506 I can confidently write a case for new social media events, such as a twitter scavenger hunt on orientation day tours, because I can show advantages and demonstrate a mitigating risk analysis. I can show my colleagues how social media can be used as a new way of collaborating with each other and an engaging with our clients. Most importantly I hope to share a new passion that moves our information service away from fearful and disengaged to promote buy-in that empowers and excites. 

Reference list

Booth, M., Schofield, S., & Tiffen, B. (2012). Change and our future at UTS Library: It’s not just about technology. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 43(1), 32-45. doi: 10.1080/00048623.2012.10722252

De Beule. S. (2014, February 7). 3 Reasons ANY company can benefit from social customer service. 

 Socialmedia today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/sofie-de-beule/2152936/3-reasons-any-company-can-benefit-social-customer-service?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29

Dankowski, T. (2013). How libraries are using social media: Expanding online toolkits to promote advocacy. American Libraries, 44(5), 38-41. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.uws.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=87453442&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Grenfell, C. (2011). Deploying microblogging in organisations. Retrieved from

http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_microblogging/index.html

OCLC. (2007). Sharing, privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC                                 membership. Dublin, OH: Author. Retrieved from http://oclc.org/en-CA/reports/sharing.html

Scupola, A., & Nicolajsen, H. W. (2013). Using social media for service innovations: Challenges and pitfalls. International Journal of E-Business Research, 9(3), 27-37. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jebr.2013070102

Steiner, S. K. (2012). Strategic planning for social media in libraries. Chicago: ALA TechSource.

Treem, J. W., & Leonardi. (2013). Social media in organization: Exploring the affordances if visability, editablity, persistence and association. Communication Yearbook, 36, 143-189. (print)

Weber, R. (2013). Constrained agency in corporate social media policy. Journal of Technical Writing

and Communication, 43(3), 289-315. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.2190/TW.43.3.d

social media? what social media?

In my last post is mentioned that I was going to use my local public library, Penrith City Library (PCL) to demonstrate how libraries are using social networking to meet their goals. I believe there is a compelling case for social media so I was surprised to find PCL's webpage absent any of the usual suspects...no Twitter logo, no Facebook ... no social media icons at all.

A search for PCL's social media presence produced only one easily findable site and that was on YouTube where I found an account under the username PCClibrary, with some five year old vidoes of the library moving the collection. At first I thought there was not even a facebook page because I was searching for username PCClibrary.

Eventually I found a facebook page for Penrith Children's services. This site is jarring to me as a mum - there's lots of pictures of children. I know they would have all the right permissions to have those photos up on the web but my first thought was that perhaps Twitter might be a better social media for them.

It's not just the "who's looking at those photos" factor making me leery of photos of children on the web, it's the psychological impact of a generation growing up without anonymity. In an era where 94% of UK parents post pictures of their kids online (Dockterman, 2013, para 3) are we bringing up a generation who will have fewer choices about who they want to be as adults because their identity has already  been created for them ... online ... by their parents?

Turns out the Children's services page was not the PCL Facebook page. I did, after a conversation PCL's very helpful Communication Librarian find their page. This is an argument for coherence of online identity, my poor searching skills aside, their Youtube page handle PCCLibrary was easier to find than PCL handle. It's an interesting feed so why make people hunt for it? The post on Australia Day with a delicious recipe for TimTam cake has a caption with a typo in it, not a good look really.

One thing is clear this library is struggling with its social media  presence.

I contacted the council to find out if the lack of social media presence was intentional, that's how I got in touch with the Communications librarian who was very interesting and happy to chat via email - librarians are great aren't they?! In my experience as a user if you ask them a question they always go above and beyond to be helpful.

He supplied a copy Penrith City Council's social media policy. I don't think I'm breaking any confidence when I reveal it seems that in order to maintain control and protect council interests/privacy, this document contains a raft of prohibitions and very few liberties culminating in:

         any external or internal communication that is likely to be seen by 500 people or more                     must be authorised by the Principal Communications Officer (Penrith City Council                              Social  Media Policy, 2012, p. 8).

The tenor of the document is prescriptive and prohibitive rather than innovative and outward-looking. I understand that local government has a duty of care to its citizens and to privacy. I understand my own limitations in regards to context and the machinations of local government, I don't have even half the story here. This understanding did not mitigate my surprise at the apparent desire for control that stifles innovation in the area of social media interaction on behalf of the library.

This highlighted to me the importance of buy-in. To be innovative libraries need engaged, switched-on, enthusiastic staff. They need forethought and strategic planning that reflects their goals/mission and they need to be trusted.

Docterman, E. (2013, Sept). Should parents post pictures of their kids on Facebook? Time. 

             Retreived from http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/06/should-parents-post-pictures-of-

             their-kids-on-facebook/

Corporate Leadership Team. ((2012). Penrith City Council social media policy. Penirth: Penrith                        City Council. 

Module 4 OLJ activity: Three reasons why libraries should be using social media

Task:

Select three (3) libraries of your choice that use social networking to meet their goals. Develop a comparative table which documents how each of the libraries use social networking tools to support information service provision, educational programs, conduct business etc.

Based on this comparison (and in no more than 350 words) develop your own list of “Reasons why libraries should be on social media”, and draw upon aspects of these three libraries to illustrate each point.

I began this exercise by comparing two libraries I already follow on social media, New York Public Library (NYPL), UTS Library (University of Technology Sydney), and for interest-sake my local public library Penrith City Library (PCL). What I discovered about PCL is the stuff of another blog post however, as there is no clear evidence that PCL uses social networking to meet their goals (see Table 1), I changed tack and added the State Library of NSW (SL NSW) into the mix to develop Table 2 and the following three reasons libraries should be on social media.

1.    Self-preservation

In the age of the GFC, torrenting, and google, libraries are not the only place readers can get their books for free, they are no longer the gatekeepers of knowledge so they must prove their worth in terms of both capital investment and user engagement. Terra Dankowski (2013) points to the “more than 80 facebbok pages and 60 Twitter accounts representing the 90 branches” (p. 34) as evidence that NYPL is an exemplary model for using social media to maintain viability in the information society. Johannes Neuer states NYPL’s goals for social media as “brand awareness, increased traffic and creating community” (quoted in Dankowski, 2013, p.34.) citing a 35% increase in membership as a response to a sustained Twitter campaign as proof of success.

2. Innovative service

While there is still a place for the traditional buildings with books, “libraries face challenges to innovate their service to stay competitive” (Scupola & Nicholajsen, 2013, p. 27). Users can now chose where they’ll get their information/entertainment from a huge array of options and they are doing it remotely – if libraries don’t have a social media presence users can and will just ignore one service in preference for another. The Social Media page of the UTS website tells users they can “find us” on facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, watch tutorials online, and engage with the story. UTS has a fun and engaging presence as demonstrated by their Twitter feed. This moves the library on from the traditional service and offers an attractive way for students to engage with the service. 

3. Create community

Public libraries have a long history of building community, as providers of ‘free’ public services (supported by rate-payers), and as repositories of local history. SL NSW stresses this in its Strategic framework and supports these ideals through social media engagement, articulating this through a Social Media Policy that states “social media can be used to enhance communication, collaboration and information exchange” (State Library NSW, 2012, p. 10). SL NSW’s facebook page is a great example of leveraging social media to create community, with a 4.4 star rating it’s clear that users approve, there is strong support for local events, such as the recent Sydney bushfires, and a focus on marketing library activities.

Dankowski, T. (2013). How libraries are using socila media: Expanding online toolkits to promote 

         advocacy. American Libraries, 44(5), 38-41.

Scupola, A., & Nicolajsen, H. W. (2013). Using social media for service innovations: Challenges 

         and pitfall. International Journal of E-Business research, 9(3), 27-37.

Module 3 OLJ Activity: Building Academic Library 2.0

Five key pieces of advice that spoke to me from the Building Academic Library 2.0 symposium and some ideas on application in my library to help it embrace a Library 2.0 ethos.

1) Adapt or die

Library 2.0 means adapting to changing user demand whilst understanding that we're not the only game in town anymore. In my university library this requires "radical trust" from all. Just as management must relinquish control in trusting staff to decide/act/engage so staff has to trust demands that might take them beyond traditional roles.  

2) Avoid the culture of perfect

This works against effective social media. When my library first dipped our toe in the social media ocean, this was the twitter process:

• someone writes the tweet
• tweet sent to social media (SM) team-leader
• SM team leader edits and forwards to manager
• manager edits and consults with University Social Media team
• University Social Media team returns to manager who approves/disapproves, returns to SM team-leader
• who returns the officially approved tweet to the original staff member
• who tweets the (now obsolete) tweet

There reasons behind this process boiled down to image control and professionalism, but of course this was untenable. Academic libraries must abandon what was once the essential 'voice' for a more authentic web 2.0 persona.

3) Know your users

Implementing every trending technology wastes resources if not meeting a need. 2.0 libraries think innovatively to understand users and to this end my University Library has a Outreach Librarian, tasked with articulating an understanding of our student cohort. I love the idea of asking students what they want on facebook, perhaps this idea would work for my library's Pinterest.

4) Build a learning culture

An educated staff is essential for library 2.0 success. Resistance should not be simply dismissed but rather examined for causes and processes put in place to avoid/minimise high stress situations. A culture that embraces and supports learning/training as a standard operating procedure will help.

5) Everyone has potential

Empowering staff to create, innovate and make decisions creates by-in. It should be recognised that Library 2.0 is never complete. We need to be constantly updating and rather than aiming for perfect we need to be agile in our up-take and flexible in our responses.

image credits

Bottom of the glass: The scorpion's dilema | flickr | sha3teely.com |LeadershipConneXtions | Maurilio Amorim

Defining Librarian 2.0

I guess those of us in LibraryLand like our edges straight. We like to know exactly what we're dealing with; have procedures delineated and definitions articulated: but I'm wondering...do spend too much time defining and not enough time doing? Do we still need to be defining librarian 2.0?

In 2008 delegates at the ALIA NLS represent a nervous approach to 2.0.

• a librarian who uses web 2.0 technologies
• overseer of web 2.0 technologies to facilitate library 2.0 collaboration
• social networking in a library environment
• inter-reactive
• using technology?
• social, collaborative environment that engages customers
• a new breed of librarian that represents a state of mind the looks at services users technology and mashes them all up
• library education 2.0? haven't thought about it but I'll have a go ...

If I ask "isn't that what we've always done?" after each of the speakers in this video, I find myself mostly saying "yes". Librarians have always been early adopters - we recognised the need for information to be findable long before search engines, we understood metadata long before other sections of society. Perhaps then these comments can be summarised thus, Librarian 2.0 is a librarian doing what they've always done - creating, informing and collaborating - in a community that now includes the online community.

Laura Cohen's (2006) Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto captures 2.0 librarians.

We have always responded positively to changes in our culture, if we hadn't we'd be extinct already, but Cohen acknowledges that we need to move faster now. In 2006 she said we need to educate ourselves about the information culture of our users and incorporate that knowledge into our library services. This is not a time in history for libraries to move slowly but alarmingly, it seems that two years on from ideas like Cohens the new librarians at the ALIA NLS were still coming to grips with definitions rather than engaging in the process.

The Cohen Manifesto:

• educate, we need new skills
• courage, it's a new world step into it bravely  
• try for excitement not fear
• essential...willingness to let go
• accept mistakes and the 'not quite perfect'
• leverage what's out there, google doesn't have to be the enemy of us
• go to our clients and speak their language
• collaborate, it's not about being gatekeepers anymore
• less of the locked-down more of the open

So let's stop defining it and start doing it we'll work out definitions as we go.

The last word goes to Mal Booth University Librarian at UTS who in 2011 said let's use new technology, to do new things.

Innovative Libraries I follow on Pinterest

Following on from my last post I thought it might be good to show you what I mean. So here's two libraries I follow on Pinterest who I think are getting it right.

New York Public library (NYPL) has 31 interesting boards, they post regularly - which maintains engagement (it must be working they have 27,971 followers) and they think outside the box. Not only do they have the standard boards "what NYPL is reading", "NYPL's current events" but they have boards for recipes "What's on the menu?" and gifts-giving "Gifts for Grads"

Best feature: Collaboration!

Lights, Camera, Action is a group board designated by the people symbol in the board title. NYPL has joined with the British Library, Penguin books, The Folio Society, London Library, Carnegie-Stout Public Library & CA State Library to pin to this board- an example of libraries collaborating through social media.

NYPL encourages social interaction with the use of #tags for example the "Little Lions" boards encourages users to post their own library cat picture with adding #NYPLLittleLion). #tags are a way of driving traffic and growing followers


The librarians list is another collaborative board that invites anyone to join in, and appears on many library Pinterest boards.

Whilst the Otis Library doesn't have the followers NYPL has it does have 139 boards that showcase the library and its resources allowing pinners to click straight through to the Otis catalogue to check if it's on the shelf and if not reserve the item. 


Otis also has some interesting ideas for engagement. The "Donations Boards" encourage followers to donate specific items to the library and provides a phone number for direct contact.  and my favourite "Choose Your Character's Outfit" which encourages users to design an outfit on a free site and then pin the results - with random winners receiving a Coldstone Creamery gift card! 

The 'Knitting group and Patterns" board promotes a group that meets weekly in the library 

and my favourite "Choose Your Character's Outfit" which encourages users to design an outfit on a free site and then pin the results - with random winners receiving a Coldstone Creamery gift card!

Module 2 OLJ activity: Social Bookmarking site - Pinterest

The February 10 2012 State Library of NSW blog post What is Pinterest and could my library use it?
expounds the possibilities for using Pinterest in a library context. In 2012 Forbes writer Stephanie Chandler (2012), cited a report by Experian that had Pinterest in the top three social bookmarking sites (Para. 1). More recently eBiz has it within its top five in 2013. The popularity of Pinterest should make it a contender in decision-making process that goes with the development of a social media policy.

The development of a social media policy begins with a clearly defined vision and purpose; it should have an understanding of audience both needs and engagement perspectives. With these boxes ticked the most appropriate medium can be adopted and a strategy developed that represents a consistent social media presence.

As I am personally deeply immersed in the Pinterest-world I am interested in how Pinterest can work for libraries. Pinterest is an image bookmarking site developed by Ben Silbermann in 2009 and describes itself as a “tool for collecting and organizing things you love” (Pinterest “About page).
Functionality, Features, functions and issues

Some librarians, like Irene McDermott (2012), find Pinterest to be “like tumbling in the surf” (p. 8) as they react to the image-based medium that is so different from text-based media. This speaks more to a social media skill-level however,  and will not be the experience for all. Once signed up, either from scratch or with an existing Twitter/ Facebook profile which gives you instant access to your existing social network connections, Pinterest is functionally intuitive.

Profile and Boards
decisions about online identity are important and should be part of a social media policy for anything other than a personal profile to ensure consistency in your online presence. Once the profile is established decide on some boards - obvious ones for libraries - new books, good reads etc.  

Pin it button
Added to a browser creates easy access to pinnable images on the web, it’s interesting to note that not all images on the web are pinnable. Once the image is pinned to a Pinterest board, it retains the original web location and creates a direct link back to the source. This does not however circumvent the sticky issue of copyright, as Hansen (2012) highlights when she points out that images found on the web are not always the original and that Pinterest actually recreates the image; this is making a new copy which infringes the owner’s right of reproduction (para 11). Content managers can ensure web-images are unpinnable with the addition of script provided by Pinterest creators whilst other image-sharing sites “such as Flickr, SlideShare, Etsy, Kickstarter, and SoundCloud have created a script which automatically adds attribution that cannot be changed or removed” (Hansen 2012, para 11) to comply with copyright.

Copyright is a minefield for Library Pinterest sites, who should be holding themselves to justifiable standards. One way to ensure copyright compliance is to pin Creative commons images.

Search
By searching Pinterest you can find and follow others with similar interests. This creates your ‘home feed’. Click on the

                                                                                                                                                  to see your home feed.

Pin, like, send
As people you follow pin to their boards you can very simply (on mouse-over) re-pin to your boards, like and send (email) the image to a friend. Social interaction also occurs through the comments section.

For libraries

Pinterest is a relevant inclusion in library social media presence by virtue of the fact that it is seen as a social media tour de force with immense up-take across personal, corporate, and education sectors. The power of Pinterest can be leveraged in two ways: by content creators as they add Pinterest widgets to their own sites (the “pin it” button or “follow me on Pinterest”); and by social media teams to broadcast their services through a Pinterest account (Hansen,  2012, para 5-8).

Libraries can use Pinterest in an obvious way – to showcase books. As an image-based social media, book covers are ideal and can be used to promote newly arrived stock, staff/patron favourites, subject reading lists with links for “borrow this item” driving traffic to the library site.  Lee Lofland (n. d.), articulates ways libraries can use Pinterest beyond the obvious such as a local history resource, research, collecting ideas for library displays, promoting library events, and promoting libraries in general. Social media is all about connections. Pinterest can connect libraries with their own patrons, with patrons out there in the WWW and with each other.

Libraries on Pinterest can encourage reading, promote life-long learning and connect with the world in a way that will help to ensure future viability by going to the patrons rather than waiting for them to come to us – and isn’t that the beauty of social media.

Reference List
Byrne, R.(2013). Three ways students can search for creative commons images [Video]. Retrieved from                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQ9ks0hXRI

Chandler, S. (2012). Pinterest Power: How to Use the Third Largest Social Media Site to Promote your 
             Business. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-             
             progress/2012/06/13/pinterest-power-how-to-use-the-third-largest-social-media-site-to-
             promote-your-business/

eBiz: The eBusiness|MBA Knowledgebase. (2013). Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites | 
              December 2013. Retrieved from http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites

Hansen, K., (2012). Pinterest as a tool: Applications in academic libraries and higher education.

Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 7,(2). Retrieved

from ttp://davinci.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/2011/2631#.UrMVV3mIqUl

Lofland, Lee. (n. d.). 20 great ways libraries are using pinterest [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/20-great-ways-libraries-are-using-pinterest/

McDermott, I. E. (2012). Pinterest for libraries. Searcher20(4), 7-9, 45. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/docview/1015600344?accountid=36155

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