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Add Me to Your MySpace! Social Networking for Libraries. Cliff Landis, Reference Librarian/Instructor Valdosta State University 9/21/2006 COMO 2006. Before We Even Begin…. Addressing the MySpace Fears. Predators 1 :
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Add Me to Your MySpace!Social Networking for Libraries Cliff Landis, Reference Librarian/Instructor Valdosta State University 9/21/2006 COMO 2006
Before We Even Begin….Addressing the MySpace Fears • Predators1: • Only 7% of those teens interviewed were ever approached by anyone with a sexual intent and nearly all of them simply ignored the person and blocked him from their page. • Two-thirds of the parents were sure that there were many sexual predators on MySpace, while only one-third of the teenagers shared this concern. • When asked about media coverage, 66% of the parents felt that it was either understated or close to the truth. • Conversely, 58% of the teens felt it was vastly overblown. • Is MySpace safer for teens than for predators?2
Addressing the MySpace Fears (cont’d) • DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act (H.R. 5319) • Passed the House of Representatives July 26, 2006 (still has to be passed by the Senate and signed by the President). • Broadly defines social networking sites as: Sec.2(c)(J) a commercially operated Internet website [sic] that- • (i) allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and • (ii) offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger. • DOPA is not yet law! Write to your Senators!
What are the questions we should be asking? • What is the nature of this technology? • How are my patrons using this technology? • How can I use this technology to benefit my patrons? • Traditional services • Innovative services • How will this technology improve my service? • How should we represent ourselves?
What is the nature of the beast? • Profiles as Identity Performance3 • Dynamic and static • Social Networking4 • Connections between individuals create a network (Vizster) • Groups and Identity • 4th Floor Odum Library Bathroom Users (active) • Odum Library Is Only Good For One Thing and That Thing Is Facebook!! (group identity) • I Like To Hang Out In the Library after Hours (failed group identity)
How are patrons using social networking websites? • Image representation (the Profile) • One-on-One communication • Communication in Groups • Writing on Walls/Comments • Sharing pictures • Linking to other social networks and websites.
How can I use social networking websites to benefit my patrons? • Traditional Services • Reference • Consultations • Groups • Marketing • Photos • Flyers • Events • Instruction • Groups • Links to traditional resources
How can I use social networking websites to benefit my patrons? • Innovative Services • Acquisitions • Asking the students on their own turf (Crossett Library at Bennington College).5 • “Ubiquitous Librarianship”6 • Using a student’s public information (blog) to meet their information needs.
How will social networking websites improve my service? • The user-centric approach • “The User Is Not Broken” 7 • Meet people where they are—not where you want them to be. • Point-of-Need service • Effective marketing • Using the market that is already in place
Choosing your Identity • How should we represent ourselves? • The living library • Kresge Library • Relationship Status: It's Complicated with Biomed Library (Minnesota) • Tisch Library • Interests: Watching kids cry, admitting sketchy old men to late night study, amusing myself by eating souls at late-night study, pre-meds, engineers, finals period • Favorite Music: silence • Favorite Books: Everything... clearly. I have millions of volumes over here, how can I pick a favorite? • The librarian collective • UIUC Undergraduate Library, Maryland Engineering Library • The librarians ourselves (stranger than fiction) • David Free, Michael Stephens, Sarah Steiner, Brian Matthews, etc.
What if your Identity is chosen for you? • Profiles From: Brown Library (UVA) To: Cliff Landis Subject: <no subject> Message: I'm actually just a student so I don't have any actual connections to UVA's library system. I just made the facebook profile for fun. (personal communication, Jul 26, 2006) • Groups • I Be On My Cell Phone In the Library • Odum Library Is Only Good For One Thing and That Thing Is Facebook!! • Events • Hide and Seek in Odum Library
Who “owns” the library? • We like to think of the library as “mine” since we work there. • For academic libraries, the University likes to think of the library as “mine” since it is part of the larger institution. • The patrons think of the library as “mine” because it is designed for their use. • Take the compliment, and work with the patrons to get the word out about the Library!
Footnotes • Rosen, L. D. (2006, June). Adolescents in MySpace: Identity Formation, Friendship and Sexual Predators. California State University, Dominguez Hills, Psychology Department. Retrieved July 13, 2006 from http://www.csudh.edu/psych/Adolescents%20in%20MySpace%20-%20Executive%20Summary.pdf • boyd, d. (2006, April 20). Is MySpace safe for predators? Retrieved August 10, 2006 from http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/04/20/ is_myspace_safe.html • boyd, d. and Heer, J. (2006, January 4-7). Profiles as conversation: Networked identity performance on Friendster. Proceedings of the Hawai’i International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS-39), Persistent conversation track. Kauai, HI: IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved August 10, 2006 from http://www.danah.org/papers/HICSS2006.pdf • Heer, J. (n.d.). Vizster. Retrieved August 10, 2006 from http://jheer.org/vizster/ • Farkas, M. (2006, May 4). Re: MySpace. Message posted to LIBREF-L electronic mailing list, archived at http://listserv.kent.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0605A&L=LIBREF-L&P=R2651&I=-3 • Mathews, B. S. (2006, March 13). Intuitive revelations: The ubiquitous reference model. Retrieved August 8, 2006 from http://hdl.handle.net/1853/8446 • Schneider, K. G. (2006, June 3). The user is not broken: A meme masquerading as a manifesto. Retrieved August 10, 2006 from http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/06/the_user_is_not_broken_a_meme.php