Social media in the Library

Volume 9 Number 12 December 9 2013 - January 12 2014

 

Maya Borom looks at the way the University Library engages users – not only students – with social media.

Despite its often scary nature, social media can be an engaging platform that brings together people who share a common interest or can promote engagement through the creation of a networked community.

The University of Melbourne’s Library uses social media extensively to promote the library to a wide appreciative audience who engage with it via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The library’s central Facebook site www.facebook.com/unilibrary, was created three years ago and has over 6500 likes featuring a healthy balance of library-specific information (such as locations of After Hours Returns chutes) to popular culture humour. 

Its visibility is on par with Ivy League institutions such as Harvard University and a healthy dose of competitive spirit is harnessed to ensure its digital presence remains one of the best in the world. 

Posts include links to collections, photos from the various archives that the University maintains and general information about aspects of the library (think of opening hours, behind the scenes tours and the like).

That’s not to say that the library presents an altogether serious voice, in fact, one of the most popular posts on social media by the library was a meme involving study, the Queen and Prince Philip.

In terms of social media, the library doesn’t limit itself to using only Facebook. In order to engage with a wider audience Twitter and Instagram are also used to publicise events, speak directly to followers and publish images of the library and its collections (past and present). Though the Twitter channel was created only a couple of years ago, and Instagram most recently, they have a strong following to the extent they’ve been told of users professing to having ‘digital crushes’ and wanting to get to know the people behind the posts.  

One of the great uses of social media is its ability to reach an infinite number of people at once, and so the library is able to open up their virtual collections to a wider audience than is usually possible using traditional methods of communication. The use of carefully chosen images also plays a big part in the conversation between the library and its followers, for example, an image of a book often opens up a conversation about wider literature likes and dislikes. The library also uses an online chat function – in effect, real time access to a librarian – that allows anyone visiting the homepage the ability to ask a librarian a question. This further creates accessible pathways to knowledge. 

The ability to build relationships outside of the immediate local environment is the essence of social media and affords the library the opportunity to converse locally and internationally. You don’t need to be physically located on campus to feel connected to the University library experience – nor do you need to be a student of the University. 

Digital media opens up conversations in often delightful and colourful ways and it’s certainly going to be exciting to see what other digital offerings the library will use to engage us.

www.twiiter.com/@unilibrary