Poker Face!

Aside from sillier things and the personal aspects of Facebook for keeping in touch with friends, writing "hello" on someones wall, viewing pictures, checking horoscopes, games such as Farmville and organising parties; Facebook does have a lot to offer libraries and their students.

I set up a Facebook page for the Library in Easter, as I mentioned previously in my first post and have to say that its been well received.  Although we haven't had as many students become fans since then (we're now up to 79), we do see it as a way of publicising events, new e-resources, linking to relevant widgets such as Jstor, Copac, UL and disseminating information updates to the students.

We have been lucky that it has been promoted not just by ourselves but also by Tutorial and the Senior Tutor.  I am hoping that we can gain some more members after Freshers fair from the new student intake in October.

I realise that some people are sceptical about the use of Facebook and say that it maybe an infringement into student lives, but its their choice at the end of the day, whether they choose to look at it and actively use it as a way to keep up to date.  So if the students don't wish to become a fan, we don't mind as this is not our only means of getting information out to students. We also have rolling screens, put information on our Library catalogue, use Twitter, traditional email and the add news items on the college webpage.  It all helps.  I still believe that we need to use as many methods as possible to promote what we do and advertise library services, as students learn and access information in different ways. 

Having looked at those other libraries in Cambridge with Facebook pages, we all seem to be using it similar ways.  I notice a few have used Bookshare, which we haven't as yet, although if we start a fiction section it could be good way promoting books, or advertising our latest accessions.  I may look into this at a future stage.  In addition I think the discussion board could be a useful tool for library suggestions or for getting items for library committee!  I would be interested to know if anyone else has had any success using the discussion feature.