A-Z of social networking (initial thoughts)

This post will explore some of the points suggested by AnnaLaura, the author of the blog The Social Networking Librarian. This post titled The A-Z of Social Networking for Libraries, is concise list covers tools and ideas that any librarian wanting to jump into the world of social networking should consider. Below are some highlights:

A-Active, Libraries need to be active when participating in social networking. I can think of more than one blog that I have stopped following because they stop posting for weeks and weeks. The professional groups that I get the most out of in my personal Facebook feed probably post more than once a week. This keeps them in my mind and also in my feed.

J- Joomla- I must admit I had not heard of Joomla before. Joomla is an open source content management system. It allows anyone to create and manage a web site. Here is a video of how it works



Libraries with no or little online presence could find this system helpful


K- Koha- Khoa is one of the many open source ILS, Others include Evergreen and OLE. These systems can give a library the power to control this system and add or modify according to their needs. From personal experience I have found that getting a corporate ILS to change something (like adding user driven tagging) can be time consuming and frustrating.

M- Mobile- Libraries need to think about how their customers are using mobile technologies. The latest Horizon Report identifies mobiles as one of the most important technologies organisations needs to focus on. I belive that Trove needs a mobile app that I can use with my phone's bar code reader (and I've told them so!)

S- Slideshare- Slideshare, for me, is one of those things that I find myself at but never go to as a destination. I don't even have an account with them. But, I really love it when I can see some presentation that was at a conference I could not make for one reason or another. This could be useful for promotion or professional development opportunities. Here is an appropriate example:

Social Media in Libraries: What are Libraries Doing?

View more presentations from Lau Andrea.

-AB