We have had quite a bit of success with Our Library Facebook Page both in terms of number of Fans and amount of interaction.

Despite the promises of Web 2.0, it turns out that few people actually comment on Library blogs, and my sense is that most Library Facebook pages get very little interaction. So I have been pleasantly surprised that our Facebook page has been attracting a fair amount of interaction lately, and I have some thoughts on what is working.

Some numbers:

1. This past week (September 18-September 24; which is 1st week of school here), we have had 35 Interactions (27 Likes, 9 Comments, & 2 Wall Posts).
2. Our Post Quality for this past week was 3.8. Post Quality “is determined by the percentage of your fans that engage when you post content to your Page.”
3. We are averaging about 3.5 interactions per post for the past week, and close to 2 interactions per post for the past month.

Some observations and lessons learned:

1. Facebook Fans are real fans. The Fans of our page are truly fans of our library, and fans of libaries and books in general. Some of the most popular posts and status updates are positive quotes from patrons or general posts about how great libraries/librarians are or about the value of books and reading. One way I find positive (and sometimes negative) quotes about our library is through Twitter searches for “Stanford Library” or “Green Library”.
2. Timing matters. Even the most clever of posts will get little interaction from the kids if it is posted early in the morning. By the time students roll out of bed and check Facebook, your post has been pushed off the first page of their newsfeed by updates from their 300 other Friends and Pages. Edited to add: Maybe this one should be “Patience matters”, since that status is now getting some traction, many hours after it was posted.
3. Demography matters. Posts about college students and their childhood icons will attract attention from the students. Posts about the death of a 94 year old music legend will appeal to the older fans.
4. You can use your Facebook page to ask for feedback … and you might even get some. If you use Facebook to advertise new services, you can get immediate feedback.

Before anyone asks it, I’ll go ahead and answer the “So what?” question. I am not suggesting that the number of Fan interactions on Facebook is, on its own, any kind of measure of a library’s worth or success. I do think Facebook interactions can be one source of feedback from our patrons. I also think that when Fans “like” something on Facebook, they are often saying “thanks for sharing, that was interesting” or “I like this thing the library is doing, or this news about the library”. Facebook interaction is one way of knowing when we are providing services and information that our patrons like.

I also already answered the “Aren’t you worried about negative and/or inappropriate comments on your Facebook page?” in Fear of Flaming.

I get lots of questions from other libraries about Our Library Facebook page, and have happily described our experience to date.

I have been surprised by the number of folks who are very concerned about the fact that Fans of a Facebook page can post comments and Wall Posts. The concern is that Fans might post negative or offensive comments, and/or that Fans will get into flaming wars with each other over something about your library.

YMMV, but that has definitely NOT been our experience. It turns out that the folks who become Fans of our library on Facebook tend to actually be fans of our library. The comments and Wall Posts have been resoundingly positive.

The sad truth is that few library patrons comment on library blogs, and few Fans comment of Facebook pages. I’m pretty sure we have the most Fans of any US academic library (982 as of today), and on a good week we get 10-15 interactions (comments, likes, wall postings).

I am well aware that flaming happens on the internet, and even happens on some Facebook Fan pages; but my experience has been that it has not happened on our Facebook page, or on any of the other Library Facebook pages I am a Fan of. If anyone knows of a flaming incident, or inappropriate Fan comments on an academic library Facebook page, I would love to hear about it.

Bottom line, I hope libraries don’t use the seemingly minuscule risk of flaming wars as a reason to avoid Facebook, or other web-based ways of interacting with patrons. After all–aren’t libraries supposed to be all about providing spaces for the free exchange of ideas?

This post is my contribution to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation blogathon.

Since the value of libraries — especially academic libraries — is a major theme of this blog, I’m going to cheat a bit and just pull together a Top Ten List of Reasons Libraries Rock from old posts that fit the theme:

1. Libraries are Green — libraries offer major economies of scale and provide a green alternative to everyone owning their own copy of physical books, newspaper subscriptions, etc.
2. Libraries and librarians are keys to good research for students
3. Libraries and librarians are keys to good research for faculty
4. 25 Random Things that rock about my library
5. Why libraries will always rock
6. Academic libraries keep the “awful books” other libraries don’t want
7. Some University Librarians rock
8. Librarians are great recruiters
9. Libraries and librarians make great song lyrics
10. Libraries continue to provide the best answers, and lots of them



Tagged: digital libraries, future of libraries, librarians, libraries, library users, research, scholarship, Stanford ]]> http://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/why-academic-libraries-rock/feed/ 0 mchris4duke lfpl Add to Facebook Add to Digg Add to Del.icio.us Add to Stumbleupon Add to Reddit Add to Blinklist Add to Twitter Add to Technorati Add to Furl Add to Newsvine http://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/the-mindset-of-the-class-of-2013/ http://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/the-mindset-of-the-class-of-2013/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:36:36 +0000 Chris http://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/?p=1380 ]]>



Every year, Beloit College produces the Beloit College Mindset List: “a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.”

This year’s list is full of goodies of all sorts (3. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.) but I am particularly interested in the number of items on the list that speak to incoming students’ relationships to information and education:

4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
14. Text has always been hyper.
20. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
35. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
36. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
48. Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
50. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
72. Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.



Tagged: e-books, future of libraries, library users, technology ]]> http://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/the-mindset-of-the-class-of-2013/feed/ 1 mchris4duke jolly Add to Facebook Add to Digg Add to Del.icio.us Add to Stumbleupon Add to Reddit Add to Blinklist Add to Twitter Add to Technorati Add to Furl Add to Newsvine