Their public libraries, I mean.

Well, there are lots, and the Northern Irish ones share one website. One of the libraries listed is the Dungannon Library in County Tyrone (40 miles from Belfast). And it just started twittering and blogging 3 months ago. Which is great for a medium-sized market town library, with only a sparse webpage to call its own. Hello world!

Perhaps, the whole tiptoe into the Web 2.0 waters is because of the library’s growing migrant users who are increasingly tech-savvy. According to its blog, they’ve started collections in Portuguese, Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian for users, and placed them in the hottest spot: the computer suite. I guess the library is considering more than its time-tested provision of physical space and collections, and adding visitorship in the virtual world to its fold. A little alarming though, is the fact that their blog hasn’t had a new entry since January 2009. Oh, don’t say it’s been abandoned to a far and dusty corner of the server.

CC photographed by mercuryvapour

At least the Twitter feed is alive and kicking, even though the library left a rather telling remark last week on April 9th, 2009: “Amazed that so many people are still adding us when we haven’t tweeted in 2 months. Thank you all for your perseverance!” Like the TU Delft library, their Twitter tone is friendly, and instead of the third-person narrative, it’s usually in the form of “we are doing this or that”. Which is kind of like a couple declaring, “we’re throwing a party. Bring wine.” Through their Twitter feed, I learnt more about the library’s heart and soul than from its official website, which states a laundry list of services and infrastructure, and nothing on what makes it tick.

However, some of the tweets sounded more like they represented the personal thoughts of library staff, rather than the library itself. Perhaps, this is abit dangerous from the public institutional point of view, since I’m not sure what to think when the library says, “Between the darkness outside and the students inside, its been very quiet today. Good job I had all this, ahem, hard work to keep me busy!” It makes me wonder if my tax money is being used properly, if it’s to pay staff to twiddle their thumbs at the desk. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt though.

I guess my point is, libraries need to remind their staff that while keeping it real is important in social media, it’s the library’s reputation and their professionalism at stake. I wouldn’t want to play around with that, no sirree.

While most libraries tend to use the third person when they tweet (eg: XXX Library is hosting XX at where/when/etc.), the Delft University of Technology Library (TU Delft) in the Netherlands has taken a rather quirky first-person narrative form instead.

For example, on their Twitter feed, they’ve announced: “Spring is in the air, students are starting to lounge on my steps in front of the main entrance again.” It doesn’t sound hilarious if it’s a person twittering, but since this is a university library, I get an odd image in my head of a talking building who can feel disgruntled because humans are sitting on its “feet”. I love it!

CC photographed by Till Krech

Since the nice part about Twitter is letting a huge bunch of people know what’s on your mind at the same time, it looks like TU Delft Library has decided to give a human face to their Twitter feed, and let others know what’s on its mind too. Its a fresh and appealing approach, and would put a smile on my face, if I were walking down the street in Delft, and the library tells me: “I sprung a water leak last night, currently a bit damp. So far none of my collection damaged. Official news to follow on website.” It’s like my best friend has told me her bathtub just flooded. I would want to send back a reply, saying: “Oh dear, good luck cleaning up.”

I hope the library does more to market its Twitter feed, because the way they’ve done it deserves a bigger following. It makes their library seem like a very friendly one indeed, and would entice me to visit it in person. Right now though, their website has nothing about its Twitter, or other Web 2.0 tools used. A search on Google retrieved evidence of a TU Delft Library Flickr photostream, but that was it. Oh, the potential!

But what I like best is that they have taken the time to put up reviews of newly arrived library fiction books, related book club discussions, and links to the library’s catalogue to discover its holdings information. Their blurb advertising their Twitter feed would be better placed on the main Wall though, instead of having its own tab, where you have to click the arrow icon to reveal it. Hardly anyone would do that, except nosey little me.

Nonetheless, the library’s Facebook page does get interesting viewers. There was even one request to visit the library posted in Spanish on the Wall, by a user who claimed to be the director of the school and public library in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Wow. The word sure spreads in the most unlikely way. Who knows, there might be a Texan-Puerto Rican book exchange and new ties forged with foreign nations next. And through Facebook!

cc by andydoro

However, a by-product of being a very obvious and reputable institution in a site filled with personal users, is that you get other organizations trying to ride your tail too. I hate it when commercial firms post ads on your Wall, asking you to “Hey, add me as a fan”. The library had such a posting by, of all entities out there, a gardening shop trying to get library users to click on their page. *Ugh* Delete! I guess when you reach out to users on the Internet, anything goes, anything shows, and that’s a risk the library will have to manage.

CC photographed by James Gray King

But what’s interesting is that because the blog is insanely chock a block with stuff, and gets updated pretty frequently, they’ve used their Twitter only to shoutout WHEN they have updated the blog. I guess it is useful for their readers to know when the latest blog entry has been made, though I can’t think of anybody who gets a tweet from the library and would want to  log-on straight away to read the blog. That’s like rushing to the door the moment you hear your newspaper slap on the patio – but doing this not just in the morning but 10 times a day. I guess I’m used to reading my RSS feeds all at one go when I have the time, and would rather not be enslaved to the technology by constantly checking for updates. I already constantly check for email as it is! Anyway, most libraries use Twitter to announce library news and events, so this is an interesting example of one Web 2.0 tool being used to soley support another.

The library has made a great effort to combine all its Web 2.0 services in one area: their website (which is actually a wiki). There, you can find links to the library’s Facebook, Twitter, del.icio.us bookmarks,  and of course, the Blog. No prizes for guessing which Web 2.0 tool gets the most attention. Even the library’s Facebook page has not one but two links and two RSS feeds to the Blog. Yes, I get it, I Must Read Your Blog. I guess it makes sense that there’s mainly one Unquiet Librarian maintaining the Unquiet Library blog, so all other use of Web 2.0 tools kind of revolve around it. Blogs sure do need time and prolonged effort, so I must commend the library for keeping at it (and for a good year now).

CC photographed by Gonzalo Barrientos

Anyway, the library has a rockin’ good collection of materials, and is pretty much the dream destination for any researcher across the world. While this grand dame has a long history, it is anything but stodgy and dated – its use of social media is one indication of its hipness.

The library is not only on Twitter, but maintains several blogs and a Facebook page. Its business and intellectual property centre (BIPC) which serves entrepreneurs in the UK even has its own Youtube channel and its own separate Facebook too. Also, what is interesting is that the library’s blogs are marketed not as institutional entities, but they present real people working at the library, showcasing their real and interesting interests. For example, library curator Lynda Barraclough has a flashy-named blog called “Endangered Archives” which shares the library’s records of “histories in peril”. Wow. It sure makes history sound like an animal species about to become violently extinguished by Man. I sure wouldn’t mind being paid to blog all day about near-extinct ‘creatures’.

The only unfortunate thing is, like the Manchester libraries, these cool Web 2.0 tools/services don’t have one solid presence on the British Library’s website. The blogs have the privilege of their own page, but evidence of the library’s Facebook pages are buried in the strangest areas – as a blurb on a sidebar for their online gallery, and also a side blurb on their newsletter. If I didn’t employ my investigative skills, I’d be lost in the library’s maze of a website by now. Hello, have you never heard of a site map??

Nevertheless, I give the library an A for effort. Put all those Web 2.0 things together and it’ll be an A++. Take their Facebook page for example. It has truly engaged Facebook users, presenting the library as if it was a warm, affable person not an institution. Their “Wall” postings are not just made up of event shoutouts, but tongue-in-cheek comments such as “31 March was the busiest day ever in the Reading Rooms” and on Mother’s Day, “Why not send your mum one of our e-cards?” There’s no censorship of user’s comments and suggestions either, if they can post “I want my own locker” and ask what the library is doing to find 9,000 missing books (in response to a controversy-stirring article in The Guardian). The library’s Facebook page also makes full use of the social elements of Facebook by inviting users to write library exhibition reviews on the page, and to share their opinions on a discussion board. No wonder they have over 4,500 Facebook fans.

Hmm, I feel like hopping on the bandwagon and making myself a fan too.

“When you decide to put up a library profile on MySpace or Facebook, what is your goal? If it’s to look cool or to make students more aware of the library, don’t bother. A profile that offers nothing but a picture of the library, a blog post or two and a cutesy thing about how we won’t shush you just looks cheesy. I think there is a big difference between “being where our patrons are” and “being USEFUL to our patrons where they are.” I think some of the libraries in MySpace and Facebook have put a profile up, but they have not tried to make it useful to their patrons at all. Just putting up a profile does not make the library seem cool, nor does it make the library more visible.”

Amen. I totally agree.

Someone had better tell that to McMaster University’s Mills Library. Maybe it’s because they can’t find someone passionate about social media to maintain and update their Facebook page, but man, this academic Canadian library’s Facebook image could do with a little sprucing up!

They kept three sections – “Wall”, “Info” and “Boxes” – on their page, but each section is sadly in need of some love. The “Wall” has no postings from the library at all – nothing on library events, news, nada. Instead, there are 2 comments from the same user, looking for help, but giving up and messaging ‘nevermind’ instead. Oh dear me. I would rather delete the comments than have them up there for all to see!

At least the “Info” section provides the standard information on the library’s address, phone number, website and opening hours, and the “Boxes” section provides an RSS feed to the library’s website for recent news. There are also links to the library’s online chat service courtesy of Meebo, and randomly enough, a searchbox for database JSTOR. Still, there is so much potential the library has in Facebook to be useful to its users, especially since most of the library’s clientele who are students would probably be on Facebook 24-7 anyway. And it boggles the mind as to how the library’s page can still have 77 fans.

The funny thing is, the Mills Library website is so much better, and gives you a more accurate idea of the excellent Web 2.0 services this university library has. It maintains a blog called 2.0 Toolbox which gives tips on how to use blogs and wikis, and news updates on the university’s Web 2.0 project to host its own blogs and wikis and get faculty and staff to create them for collaboratory learning in classes. Eventually, it’ll go out to students too. The Mills Library also tweets. There’s a Twitter feed right on the homepage. Unfortunately, there is no mention of Facebook anywhere on the website. It is obvious that certain Web 2.0 tools have been championed by the library, others not. But they belong to the same body: it’s like an athlete doing weights to pump up his arms, but leaving his legs to atrophy.

I certainly hope the library will revamp their Facebook page, start writing on their “Wall” and putting in links to their blog and Twitter feed at least. Otherwise, they are better off deleting their presence on Facebook entirely, because if I were a McMaster student, I would be ashamed to call that my library. Where art thou Services? *Sigh*

Oh Rest In Peace Thy Facebook. (CC by Kees)

For example, the Manchester public library system in the UK has a Facebook page, to advertise events, new books that have arrived, or just simply, membership. Its page is organized neatly and clearly with category tabs such as “Wall”, “Info”, “Boxes” and “Events” – first-timers to Facebook will find the site very user-friendly. The Wall section is littered with posts on recent events at various library branches, such as a poetry recital and photography exhibition. Occasionally, users who aren’t even in Manchester (say, Devon?) will post a compliment or comment. There are also links to the library’s online publication, Full Volume. The Info section meanwhile contains a blurb about Manchester libraries, and a link to their homepage.

The Manchester library also uses other Web 2.0 tools, and external links to these tools are provided in the Boxes section. From there, users can subscribe to RSS feeds for the Manchester Lit List, which is its blog announcing literature-related news and events. Users can also view a shortlist of recently tagged/bookmarked sites from the library’s del.icio.us page, and view thumbnail images of Manchester’s 23 libraries from its Flickr page. These Web 2.0 tools work well to advertise the library’s presence online, and Facebook brings that presence together. You can even tweet the library’s Facebook page administrator on Twitter, from Facebook itself. If I lived in Manchester, I would definitely add myself as a “Fan” to their Facebook page. Now that I know about Manchester libraries, I would try and visit one too.

CC by ilgiovaneWalter

However, if you aren’t a Facebook user, and stumbled upon the Manchester libraries website from Google, you most likely won’t know they are on Facebook in the first place. The drawback firstly is that the Manchester libraries homepage is buried in the Manchester City Council’s website, they do not have their own site. Secondly, finding a link to the library’s Facebook page requires a lot of mouse-clicking, first on the section “Library news and events” (if you have an inkling that that’s where it might be), then on to one of the news links called “Manchester Libraries on Facebook”, which, who knows, might be removed later this week to make way for other new news. I guess the library did not intend to market its Facebook presence in a big way, hence it’s buried location on the website. Good luck trying to find its Twitter, Flickr, blog and del.icio.us page from the website too. I sort of gave up on that.