a An evaluative statement using three (3) experiences
documents in your OLJ as evidence of
meeting the learning objectives of the
subject (@750 words).
Part 1 – Meeting the objectives
INF206 – Social networking
for information professionals sought to increase understanding of social
networking and web 2.0 technologies for use by information professionals, with
a particular focus on library professionals.
Social media and web 2.0 usage continues to increase by individuals and
organisations across Australia, and libraries continue to see how these tools
can benefit their organisation and community.
The key objectives of the
course were to: i) demonstrate an understanding of social networking
technologies; ii) understand the concepts, theory and practice of library 2.0
and participatory library service; iii)
Critically examine the features and functionality of various social
networking tools to be able to meet the information needs of users; iv) evaluate
social networking technologies to support informational and collaborative needs
of workgroups, communities and organisations; and vi) 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. Completion of online journal entries
throughout the course assisted in meeting these five objectives.
Objectives one and two which
require developing an understanding of social networking technologies and understanding
of concepts, theory and practice of library 2.0 and participatory library
service were demonstrated with the online journal activity for module three. This
task required reading about a number of different types of social networking
technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare, blogs, podcasting, videos,
Good Reads, Ustream, and text messaging (Social
Networking Librarian, 2010), and
identifying ways a number of them could be used by a library service to meet a
library 2.0 ethos. For example, UStream (2012) could be used to broadcast a
library children’s storey time session to a local kindergarten. I found this
activity really interesting. It gave me
an opportunity to learn about a number of different social networking tools
that I either didn’t know about before, or did not know a great deal about. For
example, Good Reads (2012) is a powerful tool to promote inclusion and help
with social isolation. It allows people to engage in discussions about books at
a location convenient to them rather than attending a book meeting. This would
be very useful to members of my home library service who are not physically
able to attend book meetings. Seeing how other libraries make use of these social
networking tools was very interesting, and working out ways for a library
service to use them was beneficial as well as it required me to really look at
the potential for the tool. For example, Skokie (2012) uses text messaging to notify
customers when items are ready for collection or overdue. This is not only
convenient for customers, but reduces the need to post letters thus saving time
and money.
Objective three which
relates to critically examining the features and functionality of various
social networking tools to meet the needs of users was met through online
journal for module four which required me to examine the usage of social
networking tools of three libraries, and develop a list of what libraries may
use these tools for. Each of these libraries primarily used Facebook and
Twitter to promote events; service announcements; recommended reads; library
videos; and ease of access. It is noted that for these tools to be relevant to
users they must be regularly updated and must be consistent in content and
language. For example, there is no point in having these tools if they are
going to be used sporadically - once people start engaging in these tools they
will expect to see regular posts or will become disengaged.
Objective four required me
to be able to evaluate social networking tools to support informational and
collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations. This
objective was met through online journal activities for modules three and four.
Through the online journal task for module three, I was able to think about how
social networking tools can support and benefit the community, groups and organisations. For example, making use of Good Reads (2012) to
run an informal book discussion instead of a formal book group meeting would
suit people who for whatever reason are unable to participate in an organised
book group, and also benefits the organisation by being able to provide an
accessible online tool for people to discuss books when convenient for them. I
have found that I am a convert to Good Reads myself. It enables me to see what
my friends are reading, and to share what I read. I haven’t joined or started any groups yet,
but would be keen to do this. I can also see that this may be very beneficial
in a library context in allowing customers to share what they are reading with
each other. Also, from module three, the use of videos or live streaming such
as Ustream (2012) could benefit the community who would be interested in
attending an event but are unable to get there.
For example live streaming a special storytime to kindergartens who are
unable to get their children to the library would allow them to still
participate. Whilst such a process may be require additional staff resources it
meets public libraries goals of being accessible to the community and promoting
social inclusion.
Learning objective five,
which relates to information policy and some of the other more behind the
scenes areas is met through the online journal for module five. This task required me to summarise five key
points that a working party should consider when developing and implementing a
social media policy for employees. For example, a policy should consider i)
protecting the organisation (Society for new communications research, nd) ;
ii) include reference to existing policies i.e., harassment and privacy (Lauby, 2009) ;
iii) provide guidelines for employees on use of their business and personal
social networking accounts (Lauby, 2009 and Kroski, 2009) ; iv) seek feedback from other departments such as
Information and Human Resources to ensure areas have not been missed (Fleet, 2009); and v) investigate best practice social networking
policies by similar organisations (Kroski, 2009). I found the readings on this topic to be quite interesting, especially
in the regard to employee privacy, and that they basically have none when it
comes to social networking, even on their own accounts in their own time.
Reference List
Fleet, D. (2009). David
Fleet’s social media policies E-book. Slideshare. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/davefleet/social-media-policies-ebook
Good
Reads. (2012). Good Reads. Retrieved from Good Reads website
http://www.goodreads.com/
Hobsons
Bay Libraries. (2012). Hobsons Bay Libraries. Facebook. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/HobsonsBayLibraries
Hobsons Bay
Libraries. (2012). Hobsons Bay Libraries. YouTube. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/user/hobsonsbaylibraries?feature=results_main
Kroski, E. (2009). Should
your library have a social media policy?. School library journal. Retrieved
from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699104.html
Lauby, S. (2009, April
27). Should your company have a social media policy?. Mashable Social
Media. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/
Mount Gambier
Library. (2012). The Mount Gambier Library.Facebook. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mount-Gambier-Library/137817538356
Mount Gambier
Library. (nd). See what’s on our shelves. RRB: Recommended reading blog.
Retrieved from http://rrb-mglibrary.blogspot.com.au/
Skokie Public Library. (2012). Text messages. Retrieved from Skokie Public Library Service http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_about/mobile_services.asp#alerts.
Social
Networking Librarian. (January 22, 2010). A to Z of Social Networking for
Libraries. Retrieved from Exploring Social Networking and Technologies in
Libraries http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2010/01/22/a-to-z-of-social-networking-for-libraries/
Society For New
Communications Research. (n.d.). Best practices for developing a social media
policy. Socialmedia.biz. Retrieved from
http://socialmedia.biz/social-media-policies/best-practices-for-developing-a-social-media-policy/
Ustream. (2012). Ustream. Retrieved from Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/
Yarra Plenty
Regional Library. (2010). Homepage. Yarra Plenty Regional Library.
Retrieved from http://yprl.vic.gov.au
