1. Social Software
in
Academic Libraries
Ellyssa Kroski
New York Public Library
March 28, 2008

2. What is Social Software?
• New Web 2.0 tools which are:
– Social
– Participatory
– Collaborative
– Easy to Use
– Community Environments

3. What is Social Software?
• Social Software Tools enable people to:
– Create
– Contribute
– Connect
– Converse
– Vote
– Share

4. Why Social Software?
• Exploding Growth
– MySpace has over 200 million users
– Facebook has over 67 million users half of
which sign in daily
– Over 75 million blogs
– Wikipedia has over 5 million articles written in
over 200 languages
– People view over 100 million videos daily on
YouTube
– Flicrk has over 2 billion photos

5. Why Social Software?
• Mainstream Adoption
– 85% of college students have a Facebook
account
– Americans spend an average of 14 hours per
week on the Web
– 85% of young broadband users have watched
online video
– 51% of American teens have uploaded photos
to the Web
– 55% of American teens have a social
networking profile
– Over half of all visitors to MySpace and over
40% to Facebook are over 35 years old

7. The Social Tools of Web 2.0
Wikis
Social Media
Networking Sharing
Subject Social
Guides Bookmarking
Social
Software
Answers Blogs
Second Life IM
Micro
blogging

8. Wikis
• Easy Web publishing
• No HTML required
• Collaborative online
spaces
• Great tools for:
– Team projects
– Knowledge bases
– Remote collaboration
– FAQs
– Course instruction
– Encyclopedias
– Intranets

9. How are Academic
Libraries Using
Wikis?

10. Wikis as Intranets

11. “The wiki allows us to keep staff
content centrally located, consistently
organized, and — most importantly —
easily editable by anyone willing to
learn a few basics.”
Erin George
Associate to the University Librarian
University of Minnesota Libraries

12. Wikis as Training Tools

13. Wikis as Library Web Sites

14. “It has enabled all the
librarians at USCA to share the
responsibility of updating pages. I really
believe that it has created a sense of
ownership and a commitment to the
website among those who contribute.”
Jane H. Tuten
Library Director
USC Aiken Library

15. Wikis as Subject Guides

16. “The Biz Wiki allows me to create and
manage dynamic content at anytime and
anywhere, allowing me to address popular
questions quickly, while promoting the use
of business resources.”
Chad F. Boeninger
Reference & Instruction
Technology Coordinator
Ohio University Libraries

17. Wikis as Resource Reviews
Collections

18. Wikis for Event Planning

19. Wikis for Best Practices

20. Social Bookmarking Tools
• An online space to save
“favorites” or
bookmarks
• Discovery tools
• Categorization by tags
• Portable & searchable
• Great tools for:
– Resource collections
– Subject guides
– Reading lists

21. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Social
Bookmarking?

22. Social Bookmarks in Subject Guides

23. Social Bookmarks in Subject Guides

24. Social Bookmarks in Subject Guides

25. “Using a del.icio.us account along with
FeedDigest has made it much easier for
our librarians to automatically keep a
web site up to date.”
Nicole Hennig
Web Manager
MIT Libraries

26. Social Bookmarking Communities

27. Social Bookmarking Communities

28. Social Bookmarking for Class
Reading Lists

29. Social Bookmarking for Class
Reading Lists

30. Social Bookmarking for Staff
Resources

31. “It is a catch-all space for stuff I find
interesting and want to share in a no-
hassle way. Much better than emailing
everyone every time I find something nifty.”
Lisa Sepa
Technical Services Librarian
Maui Community College Library

32. Social Bookmarks as
Recommended Resources

33. Social Bookmarking for Keeping
Current

34. Social Bookmarking for Event
Tracking

35. Social Bookmarking for Event
Tracking

36. Media Sharing
• Organize and share
photo & video
collections online
• Easy Upload
• Great tools for:
– Training
– Marketing & Promotion
– Teaching
– Digital collections
management
– Online exhibits
– Tours

37. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Media
Sharing?

38. Media Sharing for Historical
Collections

39. Media Sharing for Spotlighting
Library Staff

40. Media Sharing for Library Tours

41. “YouTube has really helped us market
ourselves to the campus community.
Some people say, "YouTube, really?"
but the undergrads get it.”
Nick Baker
Reference and
Web Services Librarian
Williams College Libraries

42. Media Sharing for Research
Recommendations

43. Media Sharing for Instruction

44. Media Sharing for Instruction

45. Media Sharing for Promotion

46. Media Sharing for Promotion

47. Social Networks
• Online social hubs
• “Third Places”
• Environments to find
like-minded people
• Great tools for:
– Portals
– Networking
– Marketing
– Outreach
– Branding

48. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Social
Networking?

49. Social Networks as Library Portals

50. “MySpace has been an a great avenue
for connecting with other
libraries around the country and world
and for sharing marketing ideas.”
Meg Burger
Learning Commons Coordinator
University Library
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign

51. Social Networks for Promotion

52. Social Networks as Extensions of
the Library Website

53. Social Networks for Outreach

54. Social Networks for Catalog Search

55. Social Networks for Database
Search

56. Social Networks for Professional
Networking

57. Social Networks for Keeping Up

58. Blogs
• Online journals or
websites
• Articles posted in
chronological order
• No HTML necessary
• Great tools for:
– Breaking news
– Staff communication
– Subject resources
– Course materials
– Media reviews
– Publishing

59. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Blogs?

60. Blogs as Library News Vehicles

61. “The KSL News Blog generates
comments with surprising swiftness–
from our campus, and beyond, we are
reaching people in different ways.”
Karen Oye, M.L.S.
Head of Customer Services
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University

62. Blogs as Subject Resources

63. Blogs to Support Library Instruction

64. Blogs for Staff Communication

65. Blogs for Accessibility

66. "My blog and my
Facebook profile allow me to
communicate in new ways with our
students and faculty and in ways that
they themselves communicate"
Jeff Trzeciak
University Librarian
McMaster University

67. IM
• Real-time online text
chat
• No technical skills
required
• Great tools for:
– Virtual reference
– Staff communication
– Remote meetings
– Collaboration

68. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
IM?

69. IM for Virtual Reference

70. IM + Voice for Virtual Reference

71. “In providing services via Skype we're
continuing to expand the range of
access options available to our users,
many of whom already rely on the web
calling client for much of their
communication.”
Char Booth
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Ohio University Libraries

72. IM + Text for Virtual Reference

73. "Since expanding the AskAULibrary
service from AIM to all major IM
providers through Meebo, our statistics
have doubled."
Melissa Becher
Coordinator of AskAULibrary
American University Library

74. Microblogging
• Online text
communication tool
• Short messages of up to
140 characters
• Great tools for:
– Event announcements
– News updates
– Making Web resource
recommendations
– Promotion

75. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Microblogging?

76. Microblogging and Promotion

77. Microblogging and Promotion

78. Microblogging as a Library Portal

79. Second Life
• Virtual World
• 3-D MMORPG
• Created by inhabitants
• Great tool for:
– Remote education
– Training
– Virtual events
– Conferencing
– Marketing & Promotion

80. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Second
Life?

81. Second Life for Subject Guides

82. Second Life for Virtual Reference

83. Second Life for Education

84. “We noticed that students find the most
pleasure – and thus motivation to learn -
by being challenged with constructionist
activities in Second Life. They have a
blast building our campus and running
events on it.”
Jeremy Kemp
Assistant Director for
Second Life Campus
San Jose State University SLIS

85. Second Life for Database
Searching

86. Second Life for Exhibits

87. Second Life for Conferences

88. Answers Communities
• Social Q&A
• Wisdom of Crowds
• Great tools for:
– Virtual Reference
– Outreach
– Promotion

89. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Answers
Communities?

90. Answers as Promotion

91. Subject Guides Tools
• Social Tools to create
interactive subject
guides
• Multimedia &
Multiformat
• Great tools for:
– Subject guides
– Pathfinders
– How-to guides

92. How are Academic
Libraries
Using
Subject
Guides?

93. Subject Guides as Research
Guides

94. Subject Guides as Research Guides

95. "The best thing about LibGuides @ BC
may be how liberating it's been for
librarians, carrying many into the world of
Library 2.0 not kicking and screaming but
excited and energized by the opportunity
at last to shape and manage their online
presence and interaction with students."
Ken Liss
Librarian
Boston College
University Libraries

96. Subject Guides as Reading Lists

97. Social Software in Academic
Libraries
• Enhance library • Asset management
services • Staying Current
• Outreach • Communication
• Marketing & • Collaboration
Promotion • Networking
• Training • Community Building
• Instruction • “Going where the
users are”

98. Social Software DIY Tips
• Jump right in
• Start to learn what's possible with these
tools
• Learning for personal use will lead to
ideas for professional applications.
• Set up some social software accounts,
most of them are free!

99. Additional Resources
• Library Emerging Tech Labs
– Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
— MIT Libraries’ Betas
– University of Michigan — MLibrary Labs
– University of Minnesota —
Digital Library Development Lab
– University of Pennsylvania — PennLabs
– University of Virginia — Library Lab
– Vanderbilt University — Test Pilot

100. Ellyssa Kroski
ellyssakroski@yahoo.com
Blogs:
iLibrarian
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian
InfoTangle
http://infotangle.blogsome.com
http://www.slideshare.net/ellyssa