Library 2.0: The effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for libraries in educational institutions

Abstract

In an attempt to market their services and connect with potential users, and particularly young people, many libraries are opening accounts on social media platforms. Research suggests a contradiction between the advice relating to marketing and that regarding the use of social media in libraries, with the former emphasising the importance of the user at the centre of all considerations and the latter placing library staff as central to decisions. In this work we attempt to re-address this imbalance by surveying the current state of library activity on Twitter and, by means of questionnaires, investigate the experiences and motivations of librarians (n=58) in using social media and whether students (n=498) are willing to engage with the library in this manner and why. Our findings confirm that libraries in the sector are indeed struggling to foster interest in their social media activities and go some way to understanding why this is so, leading to a number of conclusions and recommendations for practitioners. KeywordsLibrary 2.0, social media, marketing IntroductionAfter only a decade in existence, social media (henceforth 'SM)' has become a significant presence in our lives, not just personally but also professionally (Brenner and Smith, 2012;Bradley, 2015). Millennials employ SM tools as their primary communicative channels (Read et al. 2012) and make little distinction between their online and offline social interactions (Brook 2012). As a direct result of this, in the library and information profession there has been increasing uptake of these tools with over 70% of libraries worldwide now using SM tools and 60% having had their accounts for 3 years or more and 30% of librarians posting daily (McCallum 2015). Research suggests that conversations about libraries and their resources take place on Twitter and Facebook, regardless of whether the library has a presence on them or not (Bradley 2015).SM affords the library the opportunity to get out from behind the desk and go to where the conversations are, thus becoming part of this discourse (Bradley 2015). However, the ease of transition to using these new tools has led to overconfidence in what they can achieve. Studies indicate that, although the utilisation of such applications in libraries has been a fairly positive change (Anttiroiko and Savolainen 2011), this brings with it the need to develop new skills and competencies. This is something which many find intimidating and is not representative of the kinds of skills the majority of librarians already possess (Vanwynsberghe et al. 2015;Huvila et al. 2013). Even if libraries do begin to actively use such services and train their staff appropriately, it is not clear that users will necessarily respond with any real enthusiasm (Swanson 2012). It is not enough to understand how to use such tools; to use them effectively libraries need to examine and understand the behaviour, culture and etiquette of the user community (Luo et al. 2013).Existing research is somewhat sparse and mostly contradictory, wi...

Investigation of Factors That Influence Public Librarians’ Social Media Use for Marketing Purposes: An Adoption of the Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior

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Infrastructure and technology-enhanced learning: Context, agency, multiplicity

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