Before reflecting on my social networking journey, I think it is appropriate to revisit my initial expectations as set out in my initial post to this blog. Three things stand out in my early thoughts: that social networking should enhance our lives and provide a sense of community, my rather narrow experience of social networking technologies and a desire to find out if social networking could have a practical application for libraries.
Looking back on my journal, this semester has been punctuated by brief fits of enthusiasm and good intentions followed by prolonged periods where work, life and health have gotten in the way of any smooth progress. I think it was partly to do with feelings of being ‘out of it’ through lagging behind the majority of my fellow students that led me to loose touch with the spirit of community that I had initially identified as the basis of social networking. A lack of collegiality in commenting on fellow student’s blogs (something I am guilty of too) added to the feeling of working in isolation and putting something out there that no one is ever going to read. I applaud Vivian Harris (2012) for putting her blog avocadoontoast out there through Tweeting and posting new blog entries on Facebook and making an effort to comment on others blogs. As my confidence grows I am moving from a feeling of not having anything worth contributing, to realising I can take an active role in contributing to and sharing of information. Only today I initiated a tongue in cheek exchange with my Twitter hero – @unilibrary – over a long-misplaced interlibrary loan request rather than sticking to my common fallback of retweeting interesting or amusing tweets.
During the course of INF506 I have picked up a number of new tools. Some of these I am now feeling relatively familiar and comfortable with (such as Twitter, this blog and more recently LinkedIn) while others I haven’t caught on to as well, either having trouble adapting, missing the social aspect (Delicious and Diigo) or simply not having the energy to keep up with yet another tool (Yammer). I have tentatively begun to explore tools for streamlining my networks, such as RSS and HootSuite, and can see that these will be invaluable tools in taming my PLN adoption stages 1.1 and 2.1 (utter bewilderment and getting my head around things). In line with my thoughts of the post Learning to like new things… I have decided to ditch my ‘professional’ Facebook account and have added more professional groups and library pages to my ‘personal’ account. This will allow me to keep in touch with developments on Facebook without the burden of a second account to maintain.
My initial skepticism of the effective use of social networking has not entirely been lifted. I have had my concerns of the difficulty in incorporating it into the communication strategies of an academic library confirmed both in my readings in observing the networks of various libraries. Gerolimos (2011) is quite dismissive in his study of the use of Facebook in libraries, while others provide warnings on the need to take social networking seriously if it is to succeed (Bell, 2012; Del Bosque, Leif, & Skarl, 2012; Dickson & Holley, 2010; Gunton & Davis, 2012; Jennings, 2012). Looking at Arizona State University Libraries – a library who appear to be ticking all the right boxes social networking-wise – goes to show what a hit and miss operation social networking can be. While this is somewhat discouraging, examples such as the University of Melbourne on Twitter show that all is not lost and a truly social library network is attainable through dedication and the development of the right conversational tone. One author comments on the ‘playful’, ‘quirky’ and ‘humorous’ nature of Twitter (Doshi, 2012) and I feel that this is an important direction for libraries to take in order to get users on side. The jury is still out as far as I’m concerned over the Twitter vs. Facebook question – I think my current answer to that is each tool to its own purpose.
While still seeming somewhat distant from my current library role, this unit has given me some insight as to how social media can be incorporated into many areas of the information professions. While seeming relatively esoteric at the time of enrollment, INF506 has proved to be one of the most broadly applicable subjects I have taken to date. No matter where you are in your career, no matter what field, this unit provides skills that are of use to everyone. Now at the end, my current focus will be on strengthening, participating in and expanding my personal learning network. Let’s hope that I can turn my shortcomings into strengths, understanding that I by no means know it all my aim is to build on what I have learned and incorporate it into my remaining study and the rest of my career.
Having once exclaimed ‘Let the learning curve begin!’ I now say long may the curve continue!
References
Bell, S. (2012). Students tweet the darndest things about your library – and why you need to listen. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 217-220.
Del Bosque, D., Leif, S. A., & Skarl, S. (2012). Libraries atwitter: trends in academic library tweeting. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 199-213.
Dickson, A., & Holley, R. P. (2010). Social networking in academic libraries: the possibilities and the concerns. New Library World, 111(11), 468-479.
Doshi, A. (2012). Just the right tweet at just the right time. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 221-223.
Gerolimos, M. (2011). Academic libraries and Facebook: An analysis of users’ comments. D-Lib Magazine, 17(11/12). Retrieved from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november11/gerolimos/11gerolimos.html
Gunton, L., & Davis, K. (2012). Beyond broadcasting: Customer service, community and information experience in the Twittersphere. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 224-227.
Harris, V. (2012). avocadoontoast. http://avocadoonotoast.edublogs.org/
Jennings, S. (2012). To tweet, or not to tweet? Reference Services Review, 40(2), 214-216.
