Facebook

Facebook has always been enormously popular with students. As a result, it’s not surprising that some Academic Librarians have expressed a keen interest in embracing it as it was perceived to be an effective platform to better engage with their target audience. Since November 2007, the dream of sharing the most prominent social networking website came true as Facebook allowed the creation of Fan Pages which were specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses and organisations. Information Professionals could finally have a Facebook presence and take full advantage of its features with the aim of enticing the highest number of students to become their fans and to be part of the library online community.

Facebook Fan Pages (or Groups, for the matter) are easy, relatively quick and free to create. Furthermore they can be used as an effective marketing strategy and a tool for gathering students’ feedback, as they may include:

• Basic information such as the library’s address or opening hours
  

• Detailed information such as the library’s main subjects or maps of reading rooms
  

• Extensive information such as historical facts of the institution
  

• A space called “wall” where messages can be posted by the site’s administrator(s) and the fans.
  

• Search applications that have been developed to be used in Facebook such as JSTOR or COPAC search boxes
  

• Blogs (via RSS feeds for example)
  

• Advertisements for new acquisitions (possibly via RSS feeds from LibraryThing)
  

• Advertisements for new and existing user-focused library services
  

• Video tours and photographs
  

• Discussion boards
  

• Useful external links
  

• Updates that can be sent to fans such as changes in opening hours, promotion of events or notification of new resources

Whereas it is arguable that such features may be advantageous for everyone concerned, the involvement of libraries with Facebook has been rather controversial due to four main concerns:

• Since Facebook was originally created for students to use mainly for recreational purposes, are libraries simply encroaching upon a space in which they wouldn’t be welcomed? It is possible that this move may be interpreted as an invasion of an online space which had already been previously claimed; however, since libraries do not normally adopt an aggressive marketing approach (contrary to some intrusive ads on Facebook), this argument should perhaps be dismissed.
  

• If fair criticism is posted on the “wall”, libraries can hopefully act positively on it but what would be the best course of action to take when unfair criticism or even inappropriate comments are posted and made public? It seems to me that the deletion of unwelcome feedback should not be contemplated as such an action would compromise the very purpose of having a Facebook presence to enhance communication in the first place.
  

• How can the success of such initiatives be accurately measured? After having looked at some Facebook Fan Pages of Oxford libraries and noticing the significant number of fans some of them have, I questioned how many of those are actually regular visitors to the site. Unfortunately, judging by the limited number of contributions posted on the “wall”, they don’t appear to be a very proactive group which validates to a certain extent the claim that students are hesitant towards using Facebook for academic purposes (Chu and Meulemans, 2008). I wonder therefore if the time spent by library staff on creating and updating the site on a regular basis in order to prevent it from appearing dormant or even abandoned is worthwhile. Perhaps information professionals whose libraries are already on Facebook can shed some light on this matter by disseminating the average of daily page views according to the statistics on Facebook Insights.
  

• Is Facebook just another passing technological fad? If Facebook Pages or Groups will no longer be allowed or if its popularity with students declines considerably or even if Facebook ceases to exist altogether in the near future, it may prove that the investment of time in the library’s presence may not have been a sensible move after all…

Having said that, Facebook appears to be here to stay and I am well aware of the numerous success stories as a result of its implementation in University library settings (see Alcock, 2009; Hendrix et al., 2009; Widdows, 2009), one of those clearly stating that “[a] Facebook presence is much more than a presence in Facebook” (Widdows, 2009, p. 9). However, although the physical library building has long been established and has traditionally been regarded as the heart of the campus, I am still left questioning whether the provision of library services fits comfortably into online social networks.

Bibliography:

• ALCOCK, J., 2009. Using Facebook Pages to Reach Users: The Experiences of Wolverhampton. ALISS Quarterly, 4(2), 2-6.

• CHU, M. and MEULEMANS, Y.N., 2008. The problems and potential of MySpace and Facebook usage in academic libraries. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 13(1), 69-85.

• HENDRIX, D., CHIARELLA, D., HASMAN, L., MURPHY, S. and ZAFRON, M.L., 2009. Use of Facebook in Academic Health Sciences Libraries. Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA), 97(1), 44-47.

• WIDDOWS, K., 2009. In Your Facebook, Not in Your Face. ALISS Quarterly, 4(2), 7-10.