Library Facebook page

Writing about web page http://warwick.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6168162503

I have recently set up a Facebook page for Warwick University Library and, with help from Jo Alcock over at Wolverhampton Uni Learning Centres, I have added in some code so that it links to all of our subject-specific pages.

So far it has gathered 25 "fans" without us promoting it at all. Some of them are Library staff, some are Warwick students and others are Chartership candidates and librarians from other organisations.

There is an interesting discussion over on John Dale's blog about the use of Facebook for education, and there are lots of other dicsussions going on all over the place on this very hot topic. As a Librarian you cant go far in the blogosphere without falling over one. 

I think the advantages of using Facebook pages for Libraries are many, including:

The "update" functionality allows you to contact students/staff on mass, but the audience is self-selected, and so you are not chasing people around Web 2 trying to convince them to listen, and potentially pushing them to other sites to avoid you.

A central point from which students can link to Library pages from a place they are already visiting (how many students spend time everyday on the Library web site? How many spend time on facebook?) 

The pages will market themselves. Thanks to the facebook mini-feeds every time anyone joins as a fan all their friends will get an advert for the page - and this costs you nothing.

Usage statistics are freely available and easy to interpret.

The range of applications available make the pages very easy to adapt to suit your own needs. Applications can also be easily removed, so for example, if you had difficulty with students posting unwanted items on your wall, you can just remove the wall.

Does anyone else have a Library Facebook page?  

Here are some I know about if you would like to check them out (you will need a Facebook account to view them):

University of Wolverhampton Learning Centres

Hawthorn-Longfellow Library 

Nuffield College Library 

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Library 

If you are interested in using facebook for your library you may also want to read this blog entry and check out these face book groups:

Libraries Using Facebook Pages 

Facebook Apps for libraries 

Facebook 2.0 

Katharine Widdows : 10 Jan 2008 09:36 |  Tags: Facebook |  Comments (0) |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem