"I'll See You on Facebook"

There is still so much to write about Facebook and it is increasingly becoming popular the discussion on the many uses for Facebook and how it impacts businesses, communication, social interactions, libraries and even teaching. But at reading this article, it seemed to me that there is so much enthusiasm involved at the idea of professors meeting with students through Facebook. It seems to be fun, but to what extent do you want to use Facebook as a way to professionally impact your students without mixing personal, impersonal with professional behavior. How much can the student professor relationship can handle before it becomes to personal. Any way the same can be said about libraries and librarians. I believe that as long as the Facebook page is used for professional use as in this case it can be handled ok. I would be a little concerned about other people ability to see what is going on and how much of school involvement can their be in the page. How much is it allowed? there are so many questions and many are answered in the article but I think it is still to early to say how this will all pan out . It is still a good article but nevertheless I would wait to see how many professors out there are using Facebook to reach out to their students. At least I have not met a single professor that is using facebook to conduct business with students.

The art of Pinterest & Reddit

Add caption

I want to share with everyone my experience with Pinterest. When I first was introduced to Pinterest I never looked at it as a Social Media platform. I recognized is creative, crafty and artistic concept. I have enjoyed Pinterest for its ideas, for its colorful displays and beautiful pictures and I pinned for the fun of it and then I took this class and learned through the tutorial on Pinterest all of the wonderful uses for Pinterest. I learned I could share library ideas and even what is going on at my library with others! Another social media platform that I learned was Reddit. Reddit has a lot of potential, I think it will become a great tool for librarians especially if you are working in the reference field. It is a great tool for collaboration and getting people to join and make comments. That is why it could makes a great reference platform. Both of these platforms have a unique use and with great expectations, imagination and willingness anyone is able to transform this platforms in a great tool for librarians to use in conducting day to day library business.

Choosing a Library Blog to Follow

For Week #3  second assignment I selected “The 'M' Word - Marketing Libraries” blog. This blog is about marketing tips and trends for libraries and non-profits.  I browse through a few library blogs but most of the blogs that I read were about new found technology being used by libraries or about what is going on at a particular library or events. I also read a few that used the blog more as their personal librarian journal. I felt that if I want to follow a blog it has to have more content, more about the works that a librarian or a library is doing. I hoped to find a blog that provides new ideas for library’s and librarians and maybe find brainstorming posts that I can follow and make comments. I want to learn what is going on differently in the library world that is really innovative, creative and inspiring.   Personally I would like to know more about what other libraries around the world are doing  not limit myself to what is going on here at home in the U.S.A. and that is what attracted me to this blog. 

This blog has two collaborating authors Nancy Dowd and Kathy Dempsey. Both authors are available for speaking and consulting. Their expertise is on marketing and finding ways for libraries to make that connection with their community.   For me personally making that connection is important.  Their post “ Take the Library to the People” totally inspired me to want to subscribe to this blog. They talk about libraries built were travelers are.  Libraries at an airport in Amsterdam were travelers can enjoy   books, videos, movies, music, art, and more in over 30 languages, and is meant to entertain and enlighten people about Dutch culture while they're waiting for flights in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, considered one of the world's busiest airports. Their post covers many areas of librarianship from the biblioburro in South America to gift ideas for library lovers and promoting libraries with T-shirts that say “Libraries are My Candy Store”.

I think that the main characteristic found in a successful library blog, aside to having a appealing and attractive appearance. Having a blog that has great functionality most importantly the library blog should allow for your readers to be able to interact with you.  The first thing that blogger should know before starting a blog is “What is your blog about” who is your audience and what is your goal? The content for me is the most important, establishing goals and objectives for your blog.  Allowing for content to be always fresh, with new topics to discuss and it is important to maintain the blog at least update weekly but the if possible setting up a calendar to follow for the updates would be even better.

Finally, A library blog should have more than one contributing author, and should be able to incite intelligent communication.  A successful library blog should provide a positive view on the library and be able to feature topics of interest to patrons, including book reviews, articles of interest, new services, future programs and even  include pictures taken of the library, its people, events and even videos on feature programs, resource topics anything that will expose the library and serve to advertise the library and its services.