In honor of my LIS 5661 government documents class, I share with thee such splendor.

I can see why he is well-revered in the librarian community – even though he is probably one of the busiest guys in the profession, he took time to read what I put together and replied back with an offer to do a guest posting on his blog, Tame the Web. I am still so happy and grateful of that opportunity!

You can read the original post here, but I thought I’d go ahead and post it below as well.

More on Twittering Libraries…a TTW Guest Post by Lindy Brown

Lindy shared her project for LIS5313 with me via email and I asked her to share her study with TTW readers. Thanks Lindy! Michael

Recently, I read a post from Mashable.com about Twitter’s staggering growth in 2008: Twitter grew 752 percent in 2008 for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December! What does this mean for libraries? As Twittermania spreads, more and more of their patrons are will use it to communicate, socialize and make connections.  As such, libraries should see the unlimited potential Twitter can have to connect them to their community and beyond.

Libraries must adjust to reflect the expanded use of social media by our youth (see the recent John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur report from the Digital Youth Project). Much has been debated and discussed about the library staying relevant; I believe we must meet our users “where they’re at.” One way to do this is through social media, and Twitter is part of that repertoire.

This past fall I wrote an article titled Twittering Libraries for my LIS 5313 (Design & Production of Media) graduate class at Florida State University. The article provides background information and a brief history of Twitter, notes the pros and cons reported by libraries using it, and shares findings on innovative ways libraries are using the service.

At the time, I found about 90 libraries on Twitter and I emailed the survey to all of them. Sixty-five libraries/librarians replied. From that information, I wrote my article. I found out that overall, most librarians said Twitter is easy, fun, free to use, is a great marketing and public relations tool, allows for collaboration amongst staff and community, provides opportunities for professional development and networking, has strength in its brevity, and allows libraries to, as one librarian put it, “build street cred.”

My article is just a little window into the endless possibilities that Twitter can provide for libraries/librarians. Since then, I have found many more libraries using Twitter. Furthermore, recent comments on blog posts by Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian) and the ACRL blog show continued expansion and ingenious uses of Twitter. (Definitely check out Brian Mathews’ paper, Twitter & the Library: Thoughts on the Syndicated Lifestyle, that is connected to the ACRL post).

Some may argue that Twitter is yet another web 2.0 fad, but I believe we’re only seeing the beginning of its utility. Even with a limited reach, Twitter is a free and not-so-time-intensive tool that libraries/librarians can use to improve their services, create relationships with their patrons and community, and use for assessment and promotion. I believe that with 752 percent growth in just the past year, Twitter is more than just a fad, and its reach currently has limitless potential.

If you or your library is using Twitter in a way not discussed in the LIS 5313 article, please share!

As I work on my govdoc paper, I’ll be sure to share the interesting documents, testimonials from hearings, committee reports, etc that I find.

Of course I’m curious about the financial reports, so to practice my reference skills, I checked out the sites. Most interesting, however, was my foray to the Center for Responsive Politics. One of the lead stories on their page that caught my eye was a great picture of our president-to-be (in less than 24 hours!) with the caption of “Who’s paying for his inauguration?” Check out the link – it is really, really interesting!

The article breaks down where the money comes from – which states, industries, organizations and even which individuals donated.

Please note that OpenSecrets.org is a nonpartisan guide “to money’s influence on U.S. Elections and public policy.” As someone very well aware of how easy it is to “spin” things in politics, I recommend bookmarking this site.

Update 1/24: One of my other favorite non-partisan/independent organizations, factcheck.org, answered a recent question about Obama’s inauguration costs versus George Bush’s inauguration: Did Barak Obama’s inauguration really cost four times as much as George W. Bush’s?

Updated 6/30/09

It has been widely noted how Barack Obama has utilized technology and social media to educate and inform U.S. citizens about his campaign (just check out his YouTube channel and his Facebook, Twitter, MySpace pages).  In fact, some debate whether it made a difference in helping him win the election. Now he has a new site, change.gov which has the mission to inform the public of what’s going on as he prepares to take office this Tuesday, January 20th.

It looks like more government agencies are following Obama’s lead.

Government on Twitter – a few comprehensive sites with info:

• The Government’s A-Twitter: A Comprehensive List of Government Twitter Feeds – from Alexandra Rampy, aka socialbutterfly

• The US Government Catches the Twitter Bug, And Amazingly, Does it Well – from the Eric Krangel, Silicon Insider

• GovTwit Directory – BearingPoint Blog (updated 7/20/09 – GovTwit Directory is no longer affiliated with Bearing Point)

Update 1/22: Check out Tweet Congress. Includes statistics (e.g., see who’s the most followed, who tweets/who doesn’t, who tweets the most, etc.) and a nice search function to see which Congress-folk are using Twitter:  search by name, state, party. If your favorite Congressperson isn’t on there, it has an option to sign a petition in attempt to get them tweeting!

It is interesting to see the government utilizing social media in order to inform the public. It makes total sense, but it is amazing nonetheless!

Update 6/30/09: I discovered a new site called GovFresh that incorporates ALL live U.S. Government feeds ALL in one place: Twitter, YouTube, RSS, Facebook, Flickr accounts and more. They have it all: feeds from each branch in government, different agencies, departments, state governments, the military, contractors, political parties, news and so on…

Note: This is the fifth question of a 15-part questionnaire I sent out to over 90 libraries with Twitter accounts. 65 libraries responded. I used this information for a web 2.0 article for my LIS5313 class at Florida State University. Once the article is finished, I will share it on the blog. In the meantime, I am sharing data collected of the responses for each question.

Question five asked who organizes/runs the Twitter account for the library. I wanted to see if there was a pattern of who coordinated library Twitter accounts. If a specific title was mentioned more than once, I put a “X+number” to mean the number of times it was mentioned.  Otherwise, I simply listed the specific title mentioned by those surveyed. Some did not answer this question or provide their title.

(I know different titles can mean the same area of expertise and/or responsibilities so I put similar titles together).

Who’s running the Library’s Twitter account:

• Assistant Reference Librarian
• Reference Manager
• Research Manager
• Research Librarian
• Reference Librarian (X4)
• Reference/Technology Librarian
• Reference & Instruction Librarian

• Library webmaster
• Web Design Specialist
• Web Librarian
• Library Webmaster
• Systems Librarian

• Information Technology Manager
• Information Literacy Librarian
• Divisional Librarian, Tech Services (head of Tech services and head Cataloger)
• Information Services Director

• Manager of Marketing & Communications
• Public Programming Librarian
• Public Relations Coordinator

• Library Manager (X2)
• Library Director (X4)

• Head Cataloger (X2)

• Youth Services Librarian
• Youth Services Coordinator

• Paraprofessional
• Volunteer

Those who specifically mentioned a collaborative effort with others:

• Computer Specialist, along with the Director, Head of Reference Dept and ILL Librarian. (This library asks others from other departments to contribute and they do).
• Information Services Librarian + one other librarian (no title mentioned)
• Reference Librarian plus help from Youth Services Librarian. (Director expressed interest also).
• Web Specialist, but head of Electronic Services and Director of Technology have access.
• Director formally runs it with the help of the Library Technology Assistant. Twitter posts are spread across all librarians.
• Public Relations Coordinator runs it; Youth Services Coordinator posts.
• Biomedical & Mechanical Engineering Librarian (though it is noted anyone from the staff can post)