JM2010 Contributed Paper: No Urban Amish Here: Social Networking at UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library
Posted on January 29, 2010 by Amy Chatfield | 1 Comment
Posted by Evonda Copeland, Supervisor of Library Services, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, AZ
Like me, you might be wondering what “urban Amish” means, and whether or not you are one. To be clear – urban Amish is an endearing term referring to people who do not use tech gadgets and mobile devices (no Facebook page, no iPod, etc.). That definition excludes me, and I would bet that it also excludes most of you (the blog readers that you are). Now, on to the presentation.
Paul and Amy provided an overview of how one biomedical library used social networking tools to promote library resources and educate their users. The Louise M. Darling Library launched a library blog, which provides links to the library’s programs and allows dissemination & storage of instructional materials prior to attending library instructional classes. By posting library instructional materials to the blog, they were able to expand their outreach and promote their library’s instructional classes to a broader audience. And additional goal of posting instructional materials to their blog was to “go green”. Following the initial blog launch, the library added a news section and an RSS feed section that brings in postings directly from the institution’s BioMed blog. They also launched a Facebook page that, initially, contained little content and was not well promoted. Following an overhaul of the FB page – including the addition of library services information and photos – they enjoy regular activity from a large group of Facebook fans. Most recently, a Twitter page was created & now has 41 followers and appears on 5 Twitter lists. Promotion of the library’s blog, Facebook and Twitter pages can include listing URLs in library staff email signatures, on business cards, and on library postcards made available at library service desks.
For anyone managing multiple Web 2.0 tools for your library, you might want to consider re-posting your announcements and news items across all of your library’s social networking pages. This ensures that your users have an opportunity to see library news from their favorite Web 2.0 tool, rather than steering users to one site over another.
Posted 1/29/10
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One Response to “JM2010 Contributed Paper: No Urban Amish Here: Social Networking at UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library”
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April 23rd, 2010 @ 3:51 pm
Check out the slides with complete speaker notes at: http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AaEMcnROXV0VZGR2c2t0djRfMTg2NThqajZwZGo&hl=en%22%20target=%22_blank%22%3E.
There are also handouts associated with this paper:
1) https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6EMcnROXV0VYzM3N2NmMDUtZTBiYy00OTJmLTg1MzQtNjg2MTk1NzZmZmIy&hl=en
2) https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6EMcnROXV0VZTMyYTg3MDYtNThlNi00MzNjLTllNzQtMDg0MDI4YzE4YTg3&hl=en