STUDENTS’ INTERACTION WITH LIBRARIANS THROUGH FACEBOOK

DORA YU-TING CHEN

WILSON MAXWELL

SAMUEL KAI-WAH CHU

SELINA WEN-ZHE LI

LEONIE LAI-CHING TANG

INTRODUCTION

This research uses mixed methods to study the use of Facebook in academic & public libraries to communicate with students. • Under the prosperity of social networking

tools, there are needs for libraries to adopt social networking tools to thrive in the information age.

INTRODUCTION – RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

To find out the application of Facebook in academic and public libraries in the English and Chinese speaking countries / regions;

To identify the effectiveness of using the tools for information/ knowledge sharing and in enhancing various library services for students; and

To elicit the reasons for libraries to use (or not use) Facebook; and

To understand students’ attitude toward Facebook used by the libraries.

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Facebook do make the communications between libraries and students or the library services for students more efficiently.

Graham, Faix, & Hartman (2009)

• However, attitudes of students and librarians on academic libraries using tools of this kind, are complicated and vague.

Connell (2009)

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Libraries’ concerns:• bandwidth, • increased traffic in the library, • computer abuses, • distractions.

Hendrix, et al. (2009)

• Students’ attitude:• preferring emails for academic activities rather than

Facebook,• unwilling to add libraries as “friend” on Facebook.

Chu, et al. (2008)

RESEARCH GAP

Research on the applications of Facebook in public libraries is far from sufficient.

• Facebook, which began as a social networking site for college students, was used significantly more by academic library directors (58%) than by public library directors (10%)

De Rosa et al. (2007)

RESEARCH GAP

There is a lack of studies on a world-wide-basis.

• Existing studies on Facebook in libraries focused on one country

Charnigo & Barnett-Ellis (2007)

• or one organization

Chu, et al. (2008)

RESEARCH GAP

• The data collected by these studies are mainly quantitative.

Qualitative data from in-depth studies seem to be absent.

RESEARCH DIMENSIONS

Details of contents on libraries’ Facebook

pages, e.g., categories of posts, writing style, preference on tools

Usefulness of Facebook for libraries

Benefits and difficulties / challenges of libraries

using Facebook

Administrations on Facebook

RESEARCH METHOD

• Mixed methods: employing both quantitative and qualitative methods to answer the research questions

Creswell (2003)

• content analysis; semi-structured interview

Qualitative:

• descriptive analysis on posts

Quantitative:

RESEARCH METHOD

Region / Country Academic library Public Library

Great Britain 1 1

United States 2 1

Canada 1 2

Subtotal for English-speaking

countries

4 4

Taiwan 3 2

Hong Kong 1 0

Subtotal for Greater China 4 2

DATA COLLECTION – FACEBOOK USAGES

• It is a platform for both libraries and libraries’ users

Librarians created fans pages in Facebook for libraries

DATA COLLECTION – FACEBOOK USAGE (CONT’)

• It can be text, photos, videos and external link• There are some others functions: discussion,

event and vote.

Libraries post threads on wall

Users like the items and make comments

Facebook acts as a resources center

DATA ANALYSIS – FACEBOOK SUBSCRIBERS

Academic libraries No. of subscribersLWU 1918LGUS 2693LUGM 312LUD 1680Public libraries No. of subscribersLMC 21046LPC 2511LB 30339LPT 9503

DATA ANALYSIS – FACEBOOK SUBSCRIBERS

Academic libraries No. of subscribersLUBKH 878LUTN 8792LUHTN 2617LUCS 3402Public libraries No. of subscribersLPT 3281LTN 953

DATA ANALYSIS - CONTENTS

• E.g.1: Announcement: …• E.g.2: Breaking News: …

Post formatting

• E.g.1: Who Knew Wed: What’s …?

Post pattern

DATA ANALYSIS – INTERACTION 1

Complaint and feedback

DATA ANALYSIS – INTERACTION 2

Consultation on user opinion

DATA ANALYSIS – INTERACTION 3

Embed other channels• Library Orientation Video for college freshmen

DATA ANALYSIS – INTERACTION 4

Events involving library users - Participation

DATA ANALYSIS – CATEGORIES OF USAGES

Categories Explanation Example

1Announcement - Event update#event#previous event

Announcement - Event update Invite to join Facebook event

2

Announcement - Facilities & Referencing update#facilities#references

Announcement - Facilities & Referencing update New access to existing databases

3

Consultation & Reply#consultation#reply#technical support

Reply & Redirect the users To users A, …

4Discussion & Interaction#topics#vote

Raise a topic Do you like …?

5Promotion - Library & Collections#collections#library

Promote library services New release!! …

6 Sharing #resources Sharing Post YouTube video

FINDINGS – NO. OF USAGES

Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Type 5 Type 6 No. of posts

The most used type

LUGM 13 5 3 3 23 1 48 5

LUBKH 5 4 1 1 6 3 20 5

LUTN 22 13 3 3 8 1 50 1

LUHTN 23 9 3 5 2 3 45 1

LUCS 15 16 3 1 4 6 45 2

LUD 11 22 1 5 2 3 44 2

LGUS 10 3 3 3 10 21 50 6

LWU 12 11 3 1 13 8 48 5

LPC 5 1 2 0 8 1 17 5

LPT 13 9 3 4 14 8 51 5

LTN 24 1 2 1 6 1 35 1

LMPT 16 0 0 2 2 1 21 1

LB 12 3 1 3 21 3 43 5

LMC 9 2 3 13 15 13 55 5

FINDINGS – NO. OF USAGES (CONT’)

No. of libs used it as the most used type1 4 10.3%2 2 5.1%3 0 0.0%4 0 0.0%5 7 17.9%6 1 2.6%

FINDINGSCATEGORY 1 – ANNOUNCEMENT (EVENTS)

Libraries hosted events and posted on wall• They included event details, e.g.: time & venue, and

references, e.g.: external links• They could add additional information by comments• It’s also a way to inform users the events were cancelled

FINDINGS CATEGORY 2 – ANNOUNCEMENT (FACILITIES & REFERENCES)

Facilities update, e.g.: the opening hours of libraries during examination period

References update, e.g.: the new gateway to access certain existing databases

FINDINGS CATEGORY 3 – CONSULTATION

Passive: reply users’ enquiries & suggestionsActive: raise some Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)

as topics & welcomed library patrons to participate

FINDINGS CATEGORY 4 – DISCUSSION & INTERACTION

Librarians expressed their opinions on libraries and collections• They also created “vote” in Facebook

FINDINGS - CATEGORY 5 – PROMOTION (LIBRARY & COLLECTIONS)

Promote libraries’ collections, e.g.: collectionsPromote libraries’ services, e.g.: new facilities

Promote references services, e.g.: new e-resources

FINDINGS - CATEGORY 6 – SHARING (KNOWLEDGE-SHARING)

Academic libraries: libraries’ resourcesPublic libraries: external resources

DISCUSSION 1 – MARKET SHARE

• is much more prevailing in recent years.

Facebook

• have set up Facebook.

Academic & Public libraries

• were more promising in using Facebook so that they attracted more subscribers.

Public libraries

• public libraries were lagging behind academic libraries.

In Great China,

DISCUSSION 2 - APPLICATIONS

Facebook

• (before) subordinated medium to contents-sharing tools• (after) a platform for libraries to inform users

Libraries

• tend to be more aware of responses from users and what users are interested in.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION (CONT’)

The effectiveness:

• With the help of twitter or Weibo, libraries could do the following much more effective than before:• Enhances referencing services• Facilitate information sharing• Facilitate knowledge sharing• Help promote library services• Increase understanding

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION