A-Z of social networking

A – Z of social networking

Considering the University of Newcastle libraries.

Blog, e-books, help, podcasting and reference.

The University of Newcastle libraries are embracing a number of Library 2.0 initiatives in order to offer better services and increase the student experience. Being aware of the technology and actively seeking to utilise it as a part of the ongoing library culture is a major function of the Library staff. The University libraries currently offers a blog to keep library users up to date with the latest news related to library services, training and outages.

E-books are offered through a wide range of avenues from Google books to subscription sites including EBL, Books 24x7, or Knovel (http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/findinfo/ebooks.html) and the collection is evolving to include a large number of books in online format rather than the more tradition forms.

Help is offered to the library users as all members of the Library staff are committed to ensuring that social networking is kept up to date and reliable. The Reference staff have received training in a number of social networking options and new ideas continue to be developed. Some of the training for users utilise social networking such as youtube and interactive software.

As yet, the library does not have podcasting as a social network that is utilised fully, however, faculties within the University use the library as a podcasting site. The technology is based within the Library building and faculty staff use this facility often. Library staff require more training to better understand the function that podcasting could provide. Podcasting has been used in the past by the University Librarian to contact the University population.

Reference services are offered through a variety of social networking sites – flickr, twitter, blogs, instant messaging and sms are some of the services offered. Users are able to contact Library staff in a variety of ways including mobile. As the technology changes and the demand from students to keep up to date increases, further use of social networking is likely. Facebook is one option that staff could look into but as well as this, the use of video on youtube for example, is likely to become more prevalent especially as staff development changes and the library staff become younger in the future.

RSS in action

Two examples of other organisations/institutions that use RSS feeds are the University of Newcastle and ALIA.

http://uonlib.wordpress.com/feed/

http://www.alia.org.au/rss/

RSS feeds allow direct feeds of the latest content for its subscribers. As such, institutions and organisations are able to keep users up to date with changes, new information, critical updates and applications that can be tailored to suit the individual needs of the user. Not only can information that is essential to update local information such as library news, university changes etc, the feeds can also keep the individual up to date with the latest news and weather from around the world.

This information can be tailored to suit each user in a variety of ways. The University of Newcastle uses its RSS feeds to keep students and staff informed about new databases, system outages, daily news events thought to be of interest to users such as security on campus and extended library hours. By placing this information in one easily accessed location which is continually updated, staff and students of the University can access the latest information with the touch of a button.

Organisations such as Alia can also keep their subscribers up to date with the latest information about subscriptions, research, events such as Library and Information week, or online publications. By keeping members abreast of current content, organisations are able to provide a better service.

RSS feeds enhance the library’s ability to meet the information needs of its users by providing useful links and topics of focus that may impact upon users’ experiences with the library and the University at large. Training sessions for information literacy can be advertised and promoted to ensure that users are kept up to date with the latest skills required to utilise the learning environment successfully. Busy students are able to see at a glance what options are available to them and keep abreast of problems that may impact upon their student experience.