PLA 2010 Program Virtually Yours Saturday, March 27 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM Room: Oregon Convention Center – E145-146 -Social Networking after the shine wears off Portion presented by Bill Pardue MSLIS Virtual Services Librarian, Arlington Heights Memorial Library

1. Social Networking After the
Shine Wears Off
PLA 2010
Bill Pardue
Arlington Heights Memorial Library
bpardue@ahml.info

2. The early days (a simplification)
A staff member creates a facebook "page" for the library
A few enthusiasts post messages, try to get fans.
You spend a lot of time tinkering, finding out just what
you can do, etc.
The "sandbox" period.

3. Early days (cont'd)
Most of the library is somewhat unaware...or taking a
"wait and see" attitude.
You build up a few hundred fans (1/3 of them librarians
from other libraries!)
You pick the "coolest" news and post it.
You're just basically seeing "what might work"

4. It just becomes part of what you do...
Social networking starts to become an end in itself.
Time and resources are spent focusing on
how to get more content there
how to generate more conversations
add more events, widgets, etc.
Fans, comments, etc. become the goal.

5. Are we missing the point?
Have we stopped to ask the most fundamental questions
about social networking?

6. 1) How does this further our mission?

7. 2) Does it further the mission
efficiently?
How much staff time will be dedicated? Can some work be
automated?
Can it serve enough people to justify the staffing
commitment?

8. 3) Does it further the mission better
than competing projects?
Is there some other avenue (1.0, 2.0 or otherwise) that
will give you more "bang" for the buck?
Does it need to be either/or, or can it be both/and?

9. How do you determine value?
Fans?
Comments?
Increased circs?
Increased attendance at events?

10. This isn't just a 2.0 issue
Can you justify all your online projects against your
mission?
Your blogs
Even the various sections of your website

11. Some thoughts from Kathleen Kern
Create a mission statement for everything. A, mission
statement and vision of your tech implementation will help
guide development, roll-out, and evaluation. For your tech
plan, create an overarching mission and vision. Are you well-
funded and well-staffed? One goal might be to experiment
with emerging tech -- testing the waters if you will. Tighter
budget? Limited staff? Create your mission with that in mind:
our institution may move a bit slower, (could it be faster?) but
the decisions will be wise and based on evidence from what
those folks out at the cutting edge of our marketplace are
doing.

12. Evaluate your service. This is the next step in all the 2.0 talk.
Sure, we've rolled out the library blog, IM reference service,
wiki, and more but the final part of the antitechnolust, on-
the-money technology plan is a detailed, ongoing means to
gauge the use and return on investment for these new
technologies. This will be the next wave of discussion you'll
probably be hearing by the time you read this. How do we
track use? How do we prove the usefulness of the virtual
branch and digital librarian to governing bodies, boards,
trustees, and those who make the funding decisions? For this,
we need new models of tracking statistics and gathering
stories. In my mind, the return on investment for many of the
emerging technologies will be proven with qualitative data
such as positive stories from users and an increased amount of
participation via commenting and content creation.

13. M. Kathleen Kern, "Taming Technolust Ten Steps for
Planning in a 2.0 World" Reference & User Services
Quarterly 47 no4 314-17 Summer 2008