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This is an exploratory study investigating the use of social networking tools in academic libraries, examining the extent of their use, library staff’s perceptions of their usefulness and challenges, and factors influencing decisions to use or not to use such tools. Invitations to participate in a web-based survey were sent to 140 university libraries from Asia, North America and Europe. Responses were received from 38 libraries (response rate: 27.1%). Twenty-seven libraries (71.1%) used social networking tools, five (13.1%) were potential users and six (15.8%) did not plan to use them at all. Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly adopted tools in university libraries. Most library staff had positive perceptions on the usefulness of social networking tools, but hesitancy among library staff and limited participation of users (i.e. students) were perceived to be hindrances. This study offers insights for academic librarians to make informed decisions in applying social networking tools.

Abstract-This

One of the manifestations of the increasing diversity in multinational corporation (MNC) operations is the growing importance of regional headquarters (RHQs). RHQs assume an intermediary, bridging role between the corporate headquarters and local affiliates and other actors in their respective regions. They can have a coordination and control (i.e., administrative) mandate as well as an opportunity seeking (i.e., entrepreneurial) mandate. Since these mandates require RHQs to interact with various internal and external entities and exchange knowledge across distant locations, MNCs tend to locate their RHQs in highly connected "global cities" because these places allow the firm to economize on spatial transaction costs. In this paper, we explore the interplay between geographic distance, RHQ roles, and connectivity by analyzing which global city is selected by an MNC when establishing an RHQ. We argue that there is substantial heterogeneity among MNCs in the importance they attach to city connectivitywhich we conceptualize as encompassing the effects of the international flows of people, knowledge, and services-because the connectivity needs of an RHQ varies in relation to its corporate mandate as well as to the geographic configuration of the MNC's activities. Our mixed logit analysis of the location choices for 1,031 newly established RHQs in 48 global cities between 2003 and 2012 provides qualified support for the notion that the relationship between city connectivity and location choice is more pronounced for RHQs with an entrepreneurial role. Although the geographic distance of a city to the MNC's regional affiliates discourages the establishment of RHQs with administrative roles, distance effects disappear when the city is highly connected. Moreover, well connected cities are able to attract MNCs' RHQs from distant countries-of-origin.

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