Expanding the Awareness and Use of Library Collections Through Social Media

The Library of Congress houses more than 164 million items in various formats, languages, and subjects. Found among its treasures are the international collections. The Library's four area studies divisions—African and Middle Eastern (AMED), Asian, European, and Hispanic—reading rooms provide access to many of these resources. In 2016, the four area studies divisions launched a collaborative social media program to encourage the use of the library's international collections by domestic and global online audiences. The program adopted the 4 Corners of the World blog and the Library of Congress International Collections Facebook page as interactive social media tools. This chapter will examine the interdivisional initiative through its purpose, target audience, content focus, platform selection, management and operation, audience interaction, and current status. Next, the chapter will discuss challenges and opportunities facing the four divisions. Finally, the chapter will offer recommendations for other libraries that are interested in establishing a similar program.

Assessing Social Media Use in Instruction and Marketing

Assessment is increasingly important for libraries to address, as it speaks to justification for funding and support from the larger university. Many university budget models now require departments and colleges to be self-funding, whereas the library does not have traditional revenue sources. Statistics, including retention impact, encourage faculty and staff to promote library use to their students and encourage departments and colleges to support funding the library. This chapter explores best practices for assessing social media use in the context of instruction and marketing. It outlines the reasons for implementing an assessment plan as well as the steps necessary to successfully assess social media use, starting with outlining the specific goals for social media use, all the way through review and modification of the social media plan.

Diversity and Inclusion

The academic library profession has discussed the importance of diversity and inclusion, but has yet to explore their intersection with social media marketing. Given changing demographics and an increase in activism on college campuses, libraries must produce social media content that resonates with underrepresented groups. This chapter introduces strategies for effectively incorporating diversity and inclusion into social media and advice on avoiding mistakes. The author examines social media use at her library and lessons learned from a campaign that received criticism. The chapter concludes with challenges to practicing diversity in social media, including recruiting diverse staff and discrimination that emerges from new social media technologies.

“Is There Anybody There?”

The Open University (UK) Library supports its distance-learning students with interactive, real-time events on social media. In this chapter the authors take a case study approach and concentrate on the examples of Facebook and Livestream to illustrate how live engagement events on social media have helped to build communities of learners in spaces they already occupy, raise the visibility of the library's services and resources with staff and students, and foster collaboration with other departments, while also being effective mechanisms for instruction. The chapter concludes with the library's plans for the future and recommendations for other academic libraries wishing to run live engagement events on social media.

No Budget, No Barriers

This chapter provides a roadmap for Twitter use by academic libraries at a branch, remote, or satellite campus. These smaller libraries, operating at a distance from the center of their institution, often face challenges relating to their budget, resources, and status. The use of Twitter can empower a branch to serve their unique populations more effectively, promote engagement within the local community, and establish a presence for the branch within the institution. The authors provide strategies and suggestions for managing Twitter based upon their own experiences while managing the Southampton Campus Library of Stony Brook University Twitter account.

Using Social Media to Enhance Information Literacy

Academic librarians have long been committed to developing their students' abilities to assess the quality and credibility of various types of information. A combination of increasing public discourse about evaluating every day information and librarians' commitment to empowering students to be responsible consumers of information led Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) librarians to develop the #VetYourSources campaign, focused on enhancing undergraduate students' skills for evaluating information in academic and day-to-day contexts through social media. This chapter details the design, planning, and execution of the campaign, as well as future directions.

Social Media and Social Networking in Digital Libraries

The modern knowledge economy has transformed library and information organizations to adopt and embrace digital social media platforms. Proliferation and growth of social media and social networking technologies continue to play pivotal roles in establishment and operation of digital library and information systems in organizations. The purpose of the chapter is to examine the extent to which information professionals and practitioners understand the impact of social media and social networking technologies on digital library and information systems. The author also analyzes how information professionals manage and promote the adherence to copyright and intellectual property laws in digital library contexts. This chapter specifically discusses the rationale for social media and social networking in digital library and information systems; emerging social media platforms and their applications; legal aspects of social media, copyright and intellectual property protection, and risk management; as well as professional ethics and guidance on social media.

Making Social Media More Social

This chapter explores how academic libraries have used social media for broadcasting information, responsive communication, and engagement. Many libraries focus on the marketing aspect of social media, since it is a successful method of promoting events, services, and resources. However, exclusively using social media as a marketing tool ignores the best part of social media: the connections it fosters between people. The online community is just an extension of the in-person community that the academic library serves. This chapter examines the state of the literature on libraries' use of social media through the lens of increasing engagement and connections with the community as the key to successful social media.

Finding Your Voice

This chapter aims to provide an indispensable introduction to content marketing based on industry best-practices and help academic libraries navigate this essential but often overlooked marketing practice. The chapter will begin by addressing some of the consistent challenges organizations have starting their social media marketing campaigns and developing a social media strategy. Next, the chapter will focus on defining the tone and voice of their social media messages. Then, it will discuss sustaining the campaign by curating content and avoiding “content fatigue.” Finally, the authors share an example of how an academic library but them into practice. They are confident this chapter will give academic librarians the vocabulary and techniques they need to talk and walk their way through meaningful and engaging marketing campaigns for their libraries using social media.

Social Media Use in Academic Libraries

Social media use has become the norm in information services delivery. It holds the unique advantage of delivering service to users through social interaction. This chapter discussed social media use in academic libraries in a developing country: Nigeria. It examined the concept and definition of social media; it also discussed trends in social media usage in libraries. The chapter further outlined the types of social media tools used in libraries. It discussed the peculiar challenges of social media use in Nigeria and proffered solutions.