Module 8

Social Networking! Ahhhhh! A thing I have avoided until about 2 weeks ago. I caved!

I had avoided any social networking site due to FEAR. Fear of having anyone-strangers-know anything about me. In this day and age with the prospect of identity theft lurking over everyone's heads, it was a real concern...a real issue to protect...to covet. If you've ever been in that boat or even sort of close to that boat...it is one scarey ordeal. No one should have to go through that and it's EXTREMELY WRONG!

Now, with all that said I did sign up for one network...FB! Yep, ya know the term....facebook. I was scared...to say the very least. I do have all the privacy controls that facebooks offers up and running. I only share stuff with people I KNOW PERSONALLY!! I would and will when the chance arrises keep my personal facebook seperate from my library work facebook page. I believe that is the way to go. To me, being professional is acting, behaving, communicating, socializing, and just plain conducting oneself as such....professional. Personal stuff needs to be kept seperate. Patrons visit your library or facebook page for professionalism, not personal stuff like the great deal you just found at Target.

Libraries using facebook is another wonderful way to promote ourselves and our world...library world that is. Kelly Dallen's article put it well. These networking sites are all about chatting. Chatting, especially in this day and age, is a good way to reach others. It is fairly easy, once you understand how it works. It is cheap. So far, I haven't been asked for any money on Facebook! I wonder if it's coming? And the best thing is it's regular and consistant. It's there whenever you want to utilize it and you can communicate on it whenever you want...even at 2 am. Think of all the things a librarian can do using Facebook to promote the library. Tell about serives offered, upcoming events, old and new resources, newsletters, booktalks-discussions, registrations, book holds, cool pictures using FLICKR, videos on how to use the library facilities via Utube. Oh the possibilities are endless! And when time warrants lots of communication with the libraries patrons! One-on-one communication....the best kind!