Literature Review
Introduction
This literature review was written for the course "Introduction to Library and Information Studies." The assignment was to select a topic in the in the Library and Information Science field and create a review of the literature. I chose the topic of social networking.
Connecting with Library Users Through Social Networking
Dori Eisenstat
LIS505: Introduction to Library and Information Studies
University at Buffalo
May 7, 2015
Introduction
In 2014 the social networking site Facebook celebrated its 10th birthday and reported having 1.15 billion active users (Gupta, Gautam, & Khare, 2014). Facebook is just one of the many social network platforms that exist today, along with Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others. With such a large potential audience, low cost and ease of use, many librarians have been using social networking sites to connect with their users and share information (Vucovich, Gordon, Mitchell, & Ennis, 2013). This paper explores some of the ways that libraries are using social networking sites, looks at the costs involved and value generated, and addresses potential problems and ethical issues involved. It also reviews recommendations and future considerations for libraries choosing to interact with users through social media.
Definitions
What are social media and social networking? While various definitions exist, for the purpose of this discussion social media will be simply defined as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” (Social media, 2015). Social networking, then, is the interaction between users of social media. Social media can be thought of as the tools through which social networking happens, a collection of online sources for communicating and sharing content with various groups (Crumpton, 2014). As it has become an effective way for people to communicate and interact, more organizations are looking to social media to promote their services and to interact with patrons (Xie & Stevenson, 2014).
Different types of social media promote different levels of content and degrees of engagement. Blogs, for example, allow a writer to share thoughts and opinions on subjects in a journal format in a series of posts (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). Although readers can comment on blog posts, generally the format does not promote significant two-way interaction. The sharing of information is primarily from the writer to the reader. In contrast, social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram promote more interaction as they allow users to communicate and connect with each other in various ways such as commenting back and forth, “liking” (Facebook and Instagram) and “favoriting” (Twitter) posts, and sharing, “re-tweeting”, or re-posting content (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). The interactions and information are flowing not only back and forth between the original author and reader, but branching out to larger networks (Shulman, Yep, & Tome, 2015).
Use of Social Media by Libraries
Marketing and Promotion
The most common use of social media and social networking activities in libraries have been the advertising and promotion of library resources and services. Frequently, libraries maintain a Facebook page and/or Twitter account to broadcast announcements and to disseminate information on library programs, events, and available resources (Young & Rossman, 2015). In a content analysis of Twitter posts (known as “tweets”) by academic libraries, the most frequently occurring tweet subjects were related to events and resources (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Compared with more traditional forms of advertising and publicity, social media represent low cost marketing tools that are particularly well suited for small and medium size libraries (Romero, 2011). Social networking activities have been shown to be effective, increasing the number of client visits, interest in circulating materials (Smeaton & Davis, 2013), and enhancing visibility of the institution (Romero, 2011).
Community Building
Beyond the marketing potential of social media, some libraries found that engaging with users through social networks can build or enhance the user community. For example, a concerted effort by The Emily Carr University of Art and Design to increase social networking interactions resulted in increased engagement with the university community and the larger outside public. Although the library experimented with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they found that Instagram enabled in the highest level of follower engagement and community connections, both online and through increased attendance at library events and the circulation and excitement about library resources. Due to Instagram’s visual nature it partnered well with an art and design library (Webb & Laing, 2015).
Believing that online interactions can be used to support offline relationships, another academic library created a strategic social media program through Twitter. The library made an effort to create and share content of high interest to the community and to regularly interact with and respond to members of the community. This generated a large increase in the student user base and the rate of interaction within the community (Young & Rossman, 2015).
Connecting with local communities and users through social networking can help make the library more approachable and reduce anxiety. Many people are active on social networks, following and interacting with friends and favorite organizations and institutions. Interacting with their library on these sites may feel more familiar and comfortable than using a library’s website (Petit, 2011). Recent studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between a library’s friend connections with patrons on Facebook and the number of reference interactions in real life. Sharing personal information helps alleviate library anxiety and develops users who are more likely to engage the help of a librarian (Stone, 2014).
Information Literacy
Social media have been used in various forms of library instruction and education, such as during orientation programs to help students become more comfortable with the library. For example, a self-guided Instagram program was used with first-year undergraduate English composition classes. The librarian created an Instagram account specifically for the project. Students were given specific tasks to complete inside and outside of the library such as locating specific resources or speaking to a library staff member. The students documented their activities using Instagram and shared the images by posting them on the project’s Instagram account. The students had fun with the activity while learning from each other. The familiar medium of social media reduced library anxiety and helped the students navigate an unfamiliar academic library (Wallis, 2015). Relieving library anxiety and helping individuals feel more relaxed using libraries can support information literacy in library users. Integrating social media applications into digital libraries was found to make users feel more comfortable using the digital library and achieve better search results (Xie & Stevenson, 2014).
Librarians at UCLA Powell Library have had more success using Instagram than any other social networks in connecting with students and engaging in teaching and learning. While the rate of use of Instagram was not as high as Facebook or Twitter, they found the level of engagement on the network appeared to be higher than the others. Instagram users tend to be younger and more diverse. By posting educational content and images that encouraged interaction and feedback, Instagram became a fun learning tool for students and staff. In addition to library education, they incorporated content from UCLA’s curriculum thereby disseminating knowledge from UCLA courses to others in the community (Salomon, 2013).
Librarians at Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences (LHL) created links to YouTube tutorials and blog posts which enabled virtual reference encounters. These platforms allowed users to observe demonstrations and instruction in use of library resources on their personal computers and mobile devices. LHL librarians concluded that the benefit to users and to the library was worth the effort they spent developing and managing the content on various social media platforms (Vucovich, Gordon, Mitchell, & Ennis, 2013).
Issues and Concerns with Social Networking
Cost
Although most social networking sites are free to use, there is a cost to engaging in social networking activities. Someone has to be responsible for developing and implementing social media strategies. Every day libraries make difficult choices with limited budgets, and time spent on social networking is time not spent on other responsibilities. It is important for libraries to consider the cost associated with developing social media content, implementing networks and maintaining sites (Crumpton, 2014). Although the physical act of updating a status or posting a tweet might not take much time, coming up with interesting and relevant content, responding to comments and questions and actively engaging in networking is more time consuming. A small library already spreading a limited staff across a variety of library functions, must consider the opportunity cost of whatever choices the library needs to trade off to engage in social networking.
A successful social media campaign creates variable costs associated with growth in library usage resulting from greater use by the community. An increase in foot traffic, attendance at events, and use of resources and equipment all need to be considered. The value, or return on investment (ROI) resulting from social media efforts needs to be assessed to insure that the library is not wasting time and staff resources (Crumpton, 2014).
Ethical Considerations
Social networking requires libraries to grapple with a range of ethical issues. Librarians need to understand implications regarding identity, privacy, surveillance, friending and user exploitation on social networks (Wasike, 2013). For example, is a public library responsible for making sure users who post or comment on its pages or posts are aware of the limits on privacy of the information being shared, or is that the responsibility of the social network? How should the library handle it if a user posts offensive content on the library Facebook page? Some libraries choose to deny users the ability to post on their Facebook walls (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011). Are libraries that do this censoring the voices of their users? Do these policies reduce opportunities for engagement and interaction? Some libraries filter posts from users, separating them from posts endorsed by the library, rather than preventing users from posting to their page entirely. Bodnar and Doshi (2011) suggest that either of these methods serve to distance users from the library. Some libraries actively follow students, users or other members of the community to increase social networking engagement (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011; Shulman, Yep & Tome 2014). What are the implications of library staff seeing students’ or user’s personal information? Is it ethical to follow student timelines that contain profane or explicit information (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011)?
For libraries using social media, intellectual property rights are another important area of both legal and ethical concern. This issue comes into play when libraries share original content and when content created by others is shared. Social media policies that dictate how the services collect and use clients’ content are not easily understood by all users. Many of these policies state that the content shared by the user becomes the property of the social media platform (Wasike, 2013). Once content is shared through social networking, it becomes nearly impossible to control where the content ends up or who has access to it. Libraries that share original content risk losing ownership and control of that content. When libraries share content created by others, they risk violating copyright and intellectual property laws. As information professionals, librarians and other staff representing libraries have a greater responsibility than the average individual social media users to make sure they are adhering to such laws.
Recommendations
The development of an intentional and strategic social media program is important to creating the greatest impact from social networking activities (Crumpton, 2014; Romero, 2011; Webb & Laing, 2015; Young & Rossman, 2015). The creation of a social media group or committee within the library organization is helpful in cultivating and implementing the strategy (Webb & Laing, 2015; Young & Rossman, 2015). Library staff should research the social media platforms favored by their users and the individuals in the community served to know where to focus their efforts. The program should specify which sites will be used, which staff will take responsibility for the activities, what types of content and information will be shared, and the frequency of updates, interactions and responses. Social media programs should be regularly reevaluated for usefulness and return on investment (Romero, 2011).
Several specific forms of interaction have emerged as most useful in connecting with library users. Two-way communication invites interaction and builds user connections and community (Petit, 2011; Smeaton & Davis, 2014; Webb & Laing, 2015; Xie & Stevenson, 2014; Young and Rossman, 2015). Social media messages and shared content should be fun, engaging, communicated in a personable tone and, most importantly, relevant and interesting to the library user population (Smeaton & Davis, 2013). An art and design university library found the highest user interaction came from sharing visual art and design images (Webb & Laing, 2015). An analysis of tweets by the academic libraries of six public universities found that the “study support” subject category received the highest interactions, as measured by retweets and favorites (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Institutions that posted more frequently were found to have higher levels of interactions and more successful outreach (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). Thus, it is recommended that social networking sites are updated frequently and that librarians respond to interactions in a timely manner.
Finally, every library should develop policies that address the ethical challenges associated with social networking and social media. Such policies can guide staff in knowing how to provide the best and fairest balance between social media access and protection of individual rights. These policies will ideally define dos and don’ts of social networking practices, and provide training to staff and users to protect privacy interests (Wasike, 2013).
Conclusion
Social media platforms and social networking services have become important channels of communication for libraries and useful vehicles for interacting and making connections with library users (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Libraries are using social media in a variety of ways including marketing communications, building communities and relationships with users, and supporting information literacy education. Although social networking activities tend to be low cost compared to traditional forms of advertising and marketing, libraries do need to pay attention to the costs involved in social networking activities and evaluate programs for effectiveness and return on investment. Designated social media committees or groups within libraries can be effective in developing intentional social media implementation and management strategies, as well as policies geared toward minimizing ethical challenges associated with social networking activities.
References
Bodnar, J., & Doshi, A. (2011). Asking the right questions: A critique of Fecebook, social media, and libraries. Public Services Quarterly, 7(3), 102-110.
Crumpton, M. A. (2014). Accounting for the cost of social media. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 27(3), 96-100.
Gupta, R. K., Gautam, J. N., & Khare, V. P. (2014). Awareness and use of social media applications among library staff of power sector organizations. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 61, 320-331.
Petit. (2011). Twitter and Facebook for user collection requests. Collection Management, 36(4), 253-258.
Romero, N. L. (2011). ROI. Measuring the social media return on investment in a library. The Bottom Line, 24(2), 145-151.
Salomon, D. (2013). Moving on from Facebook. C&RL News, 74(8), 408-412.
Shulman, J., Yep, J., & Tome, D. (2015). Leveraging the power of a Twitter network for library promotion. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(2), 178-185.
Smeaton, K., & Davis, K. (2013). Social technologies in public libraries: Exploring best practices. Library Management, 35(3), 224-238.
Social media. (2015). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media
Stone, S. (2014). Breaking the ice: Facebook friending and reference interactions. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 54(1), 44-49.
Stvilia, B., & Gibradze, L. (2014). What do academic libraries tweet about, and what makes a library tweet useful? Library & Information Science Research, 36(3-4), 136-141.
Vucovich, L. A., Gordon, V. S., Mitchell, N., & Ennis, L. (2013). Is the time and effort worth it? One library's evaluation of using social networking tools for outreach. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 32(1), 12-25.
Wallis, L. (2015). #selfiesinthestacks: Sharing the library with Instagram. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 19(3-4), 181-206.
Wasike, J. (2013). Social media ethical issues: role of a librarian. Library Hi Tech News, 30(1), 8-16.
Webb, H., & Laing, K. (2015). Engaging with social media: The Emily Carr University of Art and Design Library experience. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 34(1), 137-151.
Xie, I., & Stevenson, J. (2014). Social media application in digital libraries. Online Information Review, 38(4), 502-523.
Young, S. W., & Rossman, D. (2015). Building library community through social media. Information Technology and Libraries, 34(1), 20-37.
Dori Eisenstat
LIS505: Introduction to Library and Information Studies
University at Buffalo
May 7, 2015
Introduction
In 2014 the social networking site Facebook celebrated its 10th birthday and reported having 1.15 billion active users (Gupta, Gautam, & Khare, 2014). Facebook is just one of the many social network platforms that exist today, along with Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others. With such a large potential audience, low cost and ease of use, many librarians have been using social networking sites to connect with their users and share information (Vucovich, Gordon, Mitchell, & Ennis, 2013). This paper explores some of the ways that libraries are using social networking sites, looks at the costs involved and value generated, and addresses potential problems and ethical issues involved. It also reviews recommendations and future considerations for libraries choosing to interact with users through social media.
Definitions
What are social media and social networking? While various definitions exist, for the purpose of this discussion social media will be simply defined as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” (Social media, 2015). Social networking, then, is the interaction between users of social media. Social media can be thought of as the tools through which social networking happens, a collection of online sources for communicating and sharing content with various groups (Crumpton, 2014). As it has become an effective way for people to communicate and interact, more organizations are looking to social media to promote their services and to interact with patrons (Xie & Stevenson, 2014).
Different types of social media promote different levels of content and degrees of engagement. Blogs, for example, allow a writer to share thoughts and opinions on subjects in a journal format in a series of posts (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). Although readers can comment on blog posts, generally the format does not promote significant two-way interaction. The sharing of information is primarily from the writer to the reader. In contrast, social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram promote more interaction as they allow users to communicate and connect with each other in various ways such as commenting back and forth, “liking” (Facebook and Instagram) and “favoriting” (Twitter) posts, and sharing, “re-tweeting”, or re-posting content (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). The interactions and information are flowing not only back and forth between the original author and reader, but branching out to larger networks (Shulman, Yep, & Tome, 2015).
Use of Social Media by Libraries
Marketing and Promotion
The most common use of social media and social networking activities in libraries have been the advertising and promotion of library resources and services. Frequently, libraries maintain a Facebook page and/or Twitter account to broadcast announcements and to disseminate information on library programs, events, and available resources (Young & Rossman, 2015). In a content analysis of Twitter posts (known as “tweets”) by academic libraries, the most frequently occurring tweet subjects were related to events and resources (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Compared with more traditional forms of advertising and publicity, social media represent low cost marketing tools that are particularly well suited for small and medium size libraries (Romero, 2011). Social networking activities have been shown to be effective, increasing the number of client visits, interest in circulating materials (Smeaton & Davis, 2013), and enhancing visibility of the institution (Romero, 2011).
Community Building
Beyond the marketing potential of social media, some libraries found that engaging with users through social networks can build or enhance the user community. For example, a concerted effort by The Emily Carr University of Art and Design to increase social networking interactions resulted in increased engagement with the university community and the larger outside public. Although the library experimented with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they found that Instagram enabled in the highest level of follower engagement and community connections, both online and through increased attendance at library events and the circulation and excitement about library resources. Due to Instagram’s visual nature it partnered well with an art and design library (Webb & Laing, 2015).
Believing that online interactions can be used to support offline relationships, another academic library created a strategic social media program through Twitter. The library made an effort to create and share content of high interest to the community and to regularly interact with and respond to members of the community. This generated a large increase in the student user base and the rate of interaction within the community (Young & Rossman, 2015).
Connecting with local communities and users through social networking can help make the library more approachable and reduce anxiety. Many people are active on social networks, following and interacting with friends and favorite organizations and institutions. Interacting with their library on these sites may feel more familiar and comfortable than using a library’s website (Petit, 2011). Recent studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between a library’s friend connections with patrons on Facebook and the number of reference interactions in real life. Sharing personal information helps alleviate library anxiety and develops users who are more likely to engage the help of a librarian (Stone, 2014).
Information Literacy
Social media have been used in various forms of library instruction and education, such as during orientation programs to help students become more comfortable with the library. For example, a self-guided Instagram program was used with first-year undergraduate English composition classes. The librarian created an Instagram account specifically for the project. Students were given specific tasks to complete inside and outside of the library such as locating specific resources or speaking to a library staff member. The students documented their activities using Instagram and shared the images by posting them on the project’s Instagram account. The students had fun with the activity while learning from each other. The familiar medium of social media reduced library anxiety and helped the students navigate an unfamiliar academic library (Wallis, 2015). Relieving library anxiety and helping individuals feel more relaxed using libraries can support information literacy in library users. Integrating social media applications into digital libraries was found to make users feel more comfortable using the digital library and achieve better search results (Xie & Stevenson, 2014).
Librarians at UCLA Powell Library have had more success using Instagram than any other social networks in connecting with students and engaging in teaching and learning. While the rate of use of Instagram was not as high as Facebook or Twitter, they found the level of engagement on the network appeared to be higher than the others. Instagram users tend to be younger and more diverse. By posting educational content and images that encouraged interaction and feedback, Instagram became a fun learning tool for students and staff. In addition to library education, they incorporated content from UCLA’s curriculum thereby disseminating knowledge from UCLA courses to others in the community (Salomon, 2013).
Librarians at Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences (LHL) created links to YouTube tutorials and blog posts which enabled virtual reference encounters. These platforms allowed users to observe demonstrations and instruction in use of library resources on their personal computers and mobile devices. LHL librarians concluded that the benefit to users and to the library was worth the effort they spent developing and managing the content on various social media platforms (Vucovich, Gordon, Mitchell, & Ennis, 2013).
Issues and Concerns with Social Networking
Cost
Although most social networking sites are free to use, there is a cost to engaging in social networking activities. Someone has to be responsible for developing and implementing social media strategies. Every day libraries make difficult choices with limited budgets, and time spent on social networking is time not spent on other responsibilities. It is important for libraries to consider the cost associated with developing social media content, implementing networks and maintaining sites (Crumpton, 2014). Although the physical act of updating a status or posting a tweet might not take much time, coming up with interesting and relevant content, responding to comments and questions and actively engaging in networking is more time consuming. A small library already spreading a limited staff across a variety of library functions, must consider the opportunity cost of whatever choices the library needs to trade off to engage in social networking.
A successful social media campaign creates variable costs associated with growth in library usage resulting from greater use by the community. An increase in foot traffic, attendance at events, and use of resources and equipment all need to be considered. The value, or return on investment (ROI) resulting from social media efforts needs to be assessed to insure that the library is not wasting time and staff resources (Crumpton, 2014).
Ethical Considerations
Social networking requires libraries to grapple with a range of ethical issues. Librarians need to understand implications regarding identity, privacy, surveillance, friending and user exploitation on social networks (Wasike, 2013). For example, is a public library responsible for making sure users who post or comment on its pages or posts are aware of the limits on privacy of the information being shared, or is that the responsibility of the social network? How should the library handle it if a user posts offensive content on the library Facebook page? Some libraries choose to deny users the ability to post on their Facebook walls (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011). Are libraries that do this censoring the voices of their users? Do these policies reduce opportunities for engagement and interaction? Some libraries filter posts from users, separating them from posts endorsed by the library, rather than preventing users from posting to their page entirely. Bodnar and Doshi (2011) suggest that either of these methods serve to distance users from the library. Some libraries actively follow students, users or other members of the community to increase social networking engagement (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011; Shulman, Yep & Tome 2014). What are the implications of library staff seeing students’ or user’s personal information? Is it ethical to follow student timelines that contain profane or explicit information (Bodnar & Doshi, 2011)?
For libraries using social media, intellectual property rights are another important area of both legal and ethical concern. This issue comes into play when libraries share original content and when content created by others is shared. Social media policies that dictate how the services collect and use clients’ content are not easily understood by all users. Many of these policies state that the content shared by the user becomes the property of the social media platform (Wasike, 2013). Once content is shared through social networking, it becomes nearly impossible to control where the content ends up or who has access to it. Libraries that share original content risk losing ownership and control of that content. When libraries share content created by others, they risk violating copyright and intellectual property laws. As information professionals, librarians and other staff representing libraries have a greater responsibility than the average individual social media users to make sure they are adhering to such laws.
Recommendations
The development of an intentional and strategic social media program is important to creating the greatest impact from social networking activities (Crumpton, 2014; Romero, 2011; Webb & Laing, 2015; Young & Rossman, 2015). The creation of a social media group or committee within the library organization is helpful in cultivating and implementing the strategy (Webb & Laing, 2015; Young & Rossman, 2015). Library staff should research the social media platforms favored by their users and the individuals in the community served to know where to focus their efforts. The program should specify which sites will be used, which staff will take responsibility for the activities, what types of content and information will be shared, and the frequency of updates, interactions and responses. Social media programs should be regularly reevaluated for usefulness and return on investment (Romero, 2011).
Several specific forms of interaction have emerged as most useful in connecting with library users. Two-way communication invites interaction and builds user connections and community (Petit, 2011; Smeaton & Davis, 2014; Webb & Laing, 2015; Xie & Stevenson, 2014; Young and Rossman, 2015). Social media messages and shared content should be fun, engaging, communicated in a personable tone and, most importantly, relevant and interesting to the library user population (Smeaton & Davis, 2013). An art and design university library found the highest user interaction came from sharing visual art and design images (Webb & Laing, 2015). An analysis of tweets by the academic libraries of six public universities found that the “study support” subject category received the highest interactions, as measured by retweets and favorites (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Institutions that posted more frequently were found to have higher levels of interactions and more successful outreach (Xie & Stevenson, 2014). Thus, it is recommended that social networking sites are updated frequently and that librarians respond to interactions in a timely manner.
Finally, every library should develop policies that address the ethical challenges associated with social networking and social media. Such policies can guide staff in knowing how to provide the best and fairest balance between social media access and protection of individual rights. These policies will ideally define dos and don’ts of social networking practices, and provide training to staff and users to protect privacy interests (Wasike, 2013).
Conclusion
Social media platforms and social networking services have become important channels of communication for libraries and useful vehicles for interacting and making connections with library users (Stvilia & Gibradze, 2014). Libraries are using social media in a variety of ways including marketing communications, building communities and relationships with users, and supporting information literacy education. Although social networking activities tend to be low cost compared to traditional forms of advertising and marketing, libraries do need to pay attention to the costs involved in social networking activities and evaluate programs for effectiveness and return on investment. Designated social media committees or groups within libraries can be effective in developing intentional social media implementation and management strategies, as well as policies geared toward minimizing ethical challenges associated with social networking activities.
References
Bodnar, J., & Doshi, A. (2011). Asking the right questions: A critique of Fecebook, social media, and libraries. Public Services Quarterly, 7(3), 102-110.
Crumpton, M. A. (2014). Accounting for the cost of social media. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 27(3), 96-100.
Gupta, R. K., Gautam, J. N., & Khare, V. P. (2014). Awareness and use of social media applications among library staff of power sector organizations. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 61, 320-331.
Petit. (2011). Twitter and Facebook for user collection requests. Collection Management, 36(4), 253-258.
Romero, N. L. (2011). ROI. Measuring the social media return on investment in a library. The Bottom Line, 24(2), 145-151.
Salomon, D. (2013). Moving on from Facebook. C&RL News, 74(8), 408-412.
Shulman, J., Yep, J., & Tome, D. (2015). Leveraging the power of a Twitter network for library promotion. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(2), 178-185.
Smeaton, K., & Davis, K. (2013). Social technologies in public libraries: Exploring best practices. Library Management, 35(3), 224-238.
Social media. (2015). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media
Stone, S. (2014). Breaking the ice: Facebook friending and reference interactions. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 54(1), 44-49.
Stvilia, B., & Gibradze, L. (2014). What do academic libraries tweet about, and what makes a library tweet useful? Library & Information Science Research, 36(3-4), 136-141.
Vucovich, L. A., Gordon, V. S., Mitchell, N., & Ennis, L. (2013). Is the time and effort worth it? One library's evaluation of using social networking tools for outreach. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 32(1), 12-25.
Wallis, L. (2015). #selfiesinthestacks: Sharing the library with Instagram. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 19(3-4), 181-206.
Wasike, J. (2013). Social media ethical issues: role of a librarian. Library Hi Tech News, 30(1), 8-16.
Webb, H., & Laing, K. (2015). Engaging with social media: The Emily Carr University of Art and Design Library experience. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 34(1), 137-151.
Xie, I., & Stevenson, J. (2014). Social media application in digital libraries. Online Information Review, 38(4), 502-523.
Young, S. W., & Rossman, D. (2015). Building library community through social media. Information Technology and Libraries, 34(1), 20-37.