LIS 5313: Questions for Tweeting Libraries…

Nov 24th, 2008
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For my web 2.0 article for LIS 5313, I am researching libraries that use Twitter. From my preliminary research on the web and via several articles found within the various holdings within the FSU Libraries, I found many reasons why more and more libraries are incorporating Twitter into their everyday business. To expand on this, I hope to talk/email/tweet directly with Twittering Libraries. Among the questions I have for these libraries include:

1. How did you learn about Twitter?

2. What are the pros and cons of using Twitter for your library?

3. What has been your experience using Twitter?

4. Are there any third party applications you use to enhance your Twitter experience?

5. Who organizes/runs the Twitter account for your library?

6. How is Twitter supported in terms of human labor and technological infrastructure?

7. Do you/have you faced challenges or obstacles in offering/participating in Twitter?

8. Why does your library use Twitter?

9. What value does Twitter have for your library?

10. Have you dealt with constraints or limits in using Twitter?

11. How accessible is Twitter to your diverse clientele?

12. For the future, do you plan – or have you thought – about using Twitter in a different way than
how you are using it right now?

13. Do you believe Twitter allows for greater participation by your patrons/clients in your community? If yes, how?

14. What benefits does Twitter have for outreach to patrons/clients of the library?

15. What are the potential benefits of using Twitter for your library’s information services?

Hopefully I can get in contact with those in charge of their Library’s tweets. I look forward to learning more information about this fascinating subject.

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  • Jeff Scott

    I learned about twitter from Michael Stephens on Tame The Web. I didn’t think much of it at first. It wasn’t until discussion over its usefulness heated up, did I start using it.

    The pros and cons of twitter are tricky. A library can have many connections through twitter. The pros are connecting to your online community. Getting attention online. Connecting with your users in a new way.

    The Cons are that you may not have that many people online for your library. A majority of your patrons may not use it or care to use it.

    Overall, our experience with twitter has been good. Most of the experiment is automated. I dump the RSS feed of new books and movies into twitter. It has created an increased interest in our new items.

    I have found some patrons in Casa Grande online. You could probably have more success in a more urban environment or tech savvy community.

    We mostly use Open ID/RSS to Twitter. It lets me dump the new books and events into twitter so I don’t have to do it manually. Then I can monitor any @replies or DM through email or monitoring it throughout the day. Personally, I have a bunch of things I do to lifestream through twitter. That’s a bit more interesting.

    I run it mostly. It’s automated so it doesn’t take a lot of time. Most of my staff wouldn’t understand it and I think it is too far out there for them and a lot of patrons.

    We don’t really support our twitter feed formally. When we have new books or events (or pictures via flickr) it updates. Otherwise, we don’t use it. I check it for any messages, follows, or replies. I’m a little slow at times (in the twitter world, you have about 1 minute to reply to something before it becomes old :)

    I don’t get as much participation in twitter as I would like. There are a lot of local twitter searches that I can do now that I couldn’t before to find people.

    We wanted to get the word out for all of the things that we do. We have new great books, music, and movies all the time. Just take a look.

    Here are some posts regarding our experiences:

    http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-i-found-good-use-for-twitter.html

    http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-update-or-how-i-was-able-to.html

    http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/2007/05/library-20-usage-results.html

    http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/2008/11/whos-talking-about-your-library.html

    There’s also a good recent post by David Lee King here:
    http://www.davidleeking.com/2008/11/22/attracting-friends-part-2-twitter/

  • Jeff Scott

    Here’s a sample of local tweeters, only three:

    http://www.twitterlocal.net/show/casa+grande%2C+arizona/1

  • L

    Thanks for your questions. Greetings from Northeastern Illinois University. I first learned about Twitter as a personal user, though I can’t remember where exactly. I read a lot of 2.0 blogs including Mashable and those from librarians. I think the pros are its ease of use and the fact it’s free — basically there’s no harm in trying! If you reach even one patron that wouldn’t otherwise have known about an event or something, it’s worth it. On the other hand, I don’t think a lot of people in the real world are aware of it yet, so its reach is limited.

    Personally I use the Twitter Blackberry app, and I’ve tried all kinds of things including Firefox plugins, Adobe Air apps, Mac dashboard apps, etc. I find I post to Twitter most using ping.fm, which also updates my accounts on a number of 2.0 sites at the same time. My library posting experience is mostly automated, with our blog posts being tweeted through the use of Twitter Tools with WordPress.

    I set up the neiulibrary account and post to it manually when I think of it. I’d like to see it develop and used more. Most of the other librarians are not aware of Twitter, though we recently did a 23 things-type training here, and a few more learned about it.

    I think the greatest benefit has been seeing how other libraries use Twitter to communicate — even the types of information communicated. I’m afraid we haven’t made a great deal of contact with our own patrons (yet), but again it’s free and easy, so why not?

  • Ross

    1. How did you learn about Twitter?

    > Just via the zeitgeist. One of the library blogs, probably Michael Stephens, linked to a community college library in Santa Barbara, CA, that was RSS feeding Twitter updates to their homepage. We were already doing that with our blogs, so it seemed natural to try out Twitter.

    2. What are the pros and cons of using Twitter for your library?

    >Pros — a great way to inform library users and website visitors about up-to-the-minute goings on. Cons — posting can get lost in the midst of busy days (just like with the blogs).

    3. What has been your experience
    using Twitter?

    >Most of our postings promote imminent events (like library programs) or comment from those events.

    4. Are there any third party applications you use to enhance your Twitter experience?

    >No.

    5. Who organizes/runs the Twitter account for your library?

    >A reference librarian who's also our web designer and marketing guru.

    6. How is Twitter supported in terms of human labor and technological infrastructure?

    > There's virtually no investment in either, once it's set up, other than taking the time to post.

    7. Do you/have you faced challenges or obstacles in offering/participating in Twitter?

    >Early on, feeding to the website slowed down the page load, but our web designer got around that.

    8. Why does your library use Twitter?

    > It's one more way to stay in touch with our community.

    9. What value does Twitter have for your library?

    >A means of immediate communication.

    10. Have you dealt with constraints or limits in using Twitter?

    >Other than posting consistently, no.

    11. How accessible is Twitter to your diverse clientele?

    Anyone who can access the web can find us on twitter, either by following the feeds on our website or by following us directly on Twitter.

    12. For the future, do you plan – or have you thought – about using Twitter in a different way than
    how you are using it right now?

    >We're barely using it right now, so, no….

    13. Do you believe Twitter allows for greater participation by your patrons/clients in your community? If yes, how?

    >It opens another channel of communication.

    14. What benefits does Twitter have for outreach to patrons/clients of the library?

    >See above.

    15. What are the potential benefits of using Twitter for your library's information services?

    >See above above.

  • Stefanie

    1. How did you learn about Twitter?
    In a Leadership Forum group at Brooklyn Public Library in 2006, my group's project was to determine practical usage of 2.0 for our system and Twitter came up.

    2. What are the pros and cons of using Twitter for your library?
    Pros are being able to communicate with new people, in a more interactive way. There are no cons as far as I can tell.

    3. What has been your experience using Twitter?
    Great! We tweet to tell people about programs, to ask for input and to direct them to our site and other 2.0 outlets, like our blog and facebook pages.

    4. Are there any third party applications you use to enhance your Twitter experience?
    Nope.

    5. Who organizes/runs the Twitter account for your library?
    I do – I'm the Manager of Marketing & Communications. I use Twitter and Facebook personally so I usually update both at the same time — although I update the BPL pages more often than mine.

    6. How is Twitter supported in terms of human labor and technological infrastructure?
    n/a

    7. Do you/have you faced challenges or obstacles in offering/participating in Twitter?
    Nope.

    8. Why does your library use Twitter?
    See #2.

    9. What value does Twitter have for your library?
    See #2

    10. Have you dealt with constraints or limits in using Twitter?
    Nope.

    11. How accessible is Twitter to your diverse clientele?
    That's a good question. As a system with 60 libraries serving a borough of 2.6 million people, 46% of whom speak a language other than English at home, penetration isn't as diverse as our customer base, but we've reached new people, so that's reason enough to participate.

    12. For the future, do you plan – or have you thought – about using Twitter in a different way than
    how you are using it right now?
    Nope.

    13. Do you believe Twitter allows for greater participation by your patrons/clients in your community? If yes, how?
    Definitely — we ask for input, drive our fans to our blog to comment and we've seen a correlation between comments and Twitter users.

    14. What benefits does Twitter have for outreach to patrons/clients of the library?
    See #3

    15. What are the potential benefits of using Twitter for your library's information services?
    We've already seen the benefits; we serve our customers in new and diverse ways by providing information and communication. We heart Twitter!

  • Mara

    1. How did you learn about Twitter? Initially, I learned about Twitter through talking with teens. I set up a personal account but I have not maintained it like I should. Further our public relations coordinator set up an account and asked if I would “Twitter” bout library-related activities. Our public relations coordinator also said “I did this because there are several libraries that I’ve ‘followed’ AND I found a marketing site that said it was a good idea, just to keep the name and web address out there!”

    2. What are the pros and cons of using Twitter for your library? From my point of view, it is a tool librarians can use to update each other on the newest programs or services. Also it is a positive tool for marketing.

    3. What has been your experience using Twitter? Before I set up my own personal account, I had no experience.

    4. Are there any third party applications you use to enhance your Twitter experience?

    5. Who organizes/runs the Twitter account for your library? The public relations coordinator organized the Twitter account. She asked me if I would twitter and, of course, I said yes.

    6. How is Twitter supported in terms of human labor and technological infrastructure?

    7. Do you/have you faced challenges or obstacles in offering/participating in Twitter? Most of our librarians are hesitant about using Twitter. Our system has a blog and it is difficult to convince some of our librarians to blog. Twitter would probably have the same response for most people

    8. Why does your library use Twitter? I try to twitter, in hopes, of marketing to more people.

    9. What value does Twitter have for your library? I definitely think that Twitter has great value and potential for librarians. Because Twitter limits the number of characters, it forces me to be very succinct in my word choice.

    10. Have you dealt with constraints or limits in using Twitter? No

    11. How accessible is Twitter to your diverse clientele? There is a Twitter link on our web site. In terms of diversity (i.e. language), the twittering is done in English.

    12. For the future, do you plan – or have you thought – about using Twitter in a different way than how you are using it right now? For a recent summer reading program, I wrote a post regarding one of my favorite books. To promote the library blog, I asked the parents to check it out. I asked them to find out what was my favorite book and if he/she was the first person to tell me the correct answer, he/she would receive a free summer reading shirt. I had about 20 or so people visit me the following days. I’d probably promote Twitter in the same manner I promoted the blog.

    13. Do you believe Twitter allows for greater participation by your patrons/clients in your community? If yes, how? I think it can; we just need to convince others to use it.

    14. What benefits does Twitter have for outreach to patrons/clients of the library? Patrons who are aware that the library uses Twitter can be updated about current or new programs or services.

    15. What are the potential benefits of using Twitter for your library’s information services? We can offer quick answers to some questions. Since Twitter is limited in characters, questions that require longer answers may need to be answered through email or blog.

    Answers by:
    Mara Villa
    Youth Services Coordinator
    Pearl Public Library
    Central Mississippi Regional Library System

  • lindyjb

    If you haven’t yet, check out Jeff Scott’s postings (above) for how his library, Casa Grande Public Library (AZ), integrated Twitter. Thanks for sharing, Jeff – I particularly liked your posting on Who’s Talking about Your Library.

    That particular post is really interesting and informative for Libraries that are trying to enhance their online presence (which can also be viewed as marketing their “brand”). Twitter is definitely one tool that can help!

    I especially enjoyed reading how you incorporated all those ideas into how you present your library’s presence online.

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