The impact of Facebook on libraries and librarians: a review of the literature

Abstract

Δημοσιεύσεις μελών--ΣΔΟ--Τμήμα Βιβλιοθηκονομίας και Συστημάτων Πληροφόρησης, 2014Purpose – Social networking sites are becoming more and more popular triggering an increase in published research and impacting different aspects of daily life. One such aspect concerns libraries and librarians and the way they have adopted social networking sites. The purpose of this paper is to present a selective review on libraries’ adoption and use of a specific social networking site such as Facebook in order to promote their services. Design/methodology/approach – The method of selective review is employed to identify, document and present the relevant literature in a structured and annotated way. More specifically, all types of documents published between 2006 and 2012 are considered. In addition, the papers are assigned based on their expressed aim/s to emerged themes and sub-themes. Findings – It was found that the main body of the reported literature focused on reporting experiences, problems and lessons learned from building a presence on Facebook. A few studies aimed to explore users’ and librarians’ perspectives towards social networking sites whereas there is a strong need for specific guidelines to assist libraries and librarians in adopting Facebook. Research limitations/implications – This systematic literature review consists of articles published between 2006 and 2012. Originality/value – This paper contributes to identifying, collecting and presenting research regarding the use of Facebook in the field of library science. In addition, it identifies and summarises the main problems and challenges libraries and librarians are faced with when employing Facebook

Applications of Mobile Social Media: WeChat Among Academic Libraries in China

“…This distinguishes the App from those SNSs launched earlier, which have already extensively been used in libraries. Similar to Facebook, WeChat may prove to be a successful outreach tool (Vassilakaki & Garoufallou, 2014). Therefore, it is important that librarians understand how to best harness the platform to enhance library service practices with the critical, creative, collaborative, and communicative capabilities required in their professions (Zohoorian-Fooladi & Abrizah, 2014).…”

Understanding Twitter use by major LIS professional organisations in the United States

“…These studies explored the implementation of social media tools, including Twitter, by libraries in various contexts (i.e. public libraries, academic libraries and academic institutions) and from various angles, including why and how libraries use social media [16–20], the impact of social media [21], identifying connecting users [22,23] and social media policies and guidelines [24].…”

Effective Social Media Strategies for Business Libraries

“…There has been extensive research published on effective social media strategies, including much discussion of how libraries can effectively use social media. One of the most highly cited is Vassilakaki and Garoufallou's (2014) literature of the impact of social media on libraries and Ticker: The Academic Business Librarianship Review, 3:1 (2018) © 2018 Daphné Bélizaire and Michael Groenendyk 2 librarians. The authors noted that, as more libraries established presences on Facebook and Twitter, the literature has evolved from discussion of personal experiences with social media to establishing guidelines and best practices-and this has increasingly related to specialized libraries (p. 230).…”

“…The authors noted that, as more libraries established presences on Facebook and Twitter, the literature has evolved from discussion of personal experiences with social media to establishing guidelines and best practices-and this has increasingly related to specialized libraries (p. 230). Vassilakaki and Garoufallou (2014) provided an overview of authors who have attempted to create guidelines for posting on Facebook and other social media platforms. Of these, Miller and Jensen (2007) recommended friending as many students as possible and suggest asking students to be your Facebook friend at the end of library instructional sessions and, in general, reaching out to students wherever possible to promote the account.…”