Technology Sandbox

I would consider myself to be fairly tech savvy, but even so I often find myself surprised at the sheer amount of web applications, websites, and other technological tools that are available.  While some are very specific and may not be relevant to most libraries, the majority are very general and may be used in a variety of ways to promote the library (including events, materials and resources offered, and reference services).  That being said, even a full time staff member devoted to technology would have a difficult time keeping up with everything that is out there, and very few libraries have the financial resources to hire someone specifically for this task. Therefore, I feel it is important for libraries to consider all of the options that are available to them and then decide which resources to use and make a point to use them well.

At a minimum, libraries should maintain a social media presence on the most-used sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as an up-to-date webpage.  Having a page on Facebook allows the library to post about upcoming events and new materials, as well as share photos of happenings at the library and befriend people in the community.  The ability to link Twitter and Facebook accounts so that Twitter tweets are published as Facebook status updates increases the library's impact and exposure with almost no extra effort.  

A library webpage should have at minimum an easy to use calendar (personally I like one that allows me to save events to my Google or Outlook calendar, or both), contact information for the library staff, clearly displayed contact information for the library and library hours, and links to the library's online catalogs and resources.  If staff members are willing to contribute to a blog I feel this is another useful tool, but I believe it should be done well or not done at all.  I feel similarly about webpages and apps such as Instagram and Flickr.  If someone is skilled at photography and wants to take the time to keep things up to date I say go for it.  The internet does not, however, need another Flickr stream filled with blurry images and maintaining one for the sake of having it is not, in my opinion, going to benefit the library.  The more time and resources that the library has, the more they can consider branching out into other apps and technology resources, as long as they are not doing so at the expense of providing other needed services to the community.  It is important for staff to at least be familiar with how social media and other web apps function so that they can help patrons who may have questions about them.  

If I were in charge of web presence for my own library, I would make it a point to at least have the aforementioned Twitter account, Facebook page, and web page with a blog updated at least weekly.  If I had enough time, I would probably aim to keep an up-to-date Flickr stream as the quality of photos would be better than those on Facebook (which by default are compressed or take forever to upload).  From there I would explore other options and see what best fits my library.  A LinkedIn page would be another social media page I would consider having, because it would allow the library to connect with people in the area on a professional level and post job and volunteer opportunities.  I would also consider having a YouTube channel for the library to share book talks, video from library events, and video tours of the library.  There are a number of ways that video may be used to instruct and inform people, but the content takes much longer to develop than written content so it definitely needs to be something that people are willing to put time and effort into.  

The most important thing for libraries to consider when looking at all of the technology available is how much are they able to handle.  As many websites allow users to set up a free account, it can be tempting to sign up for everything available, but I feel this would be a mistake unless the library has the resources to handle everything well.  In my opinion, it is better to have a well-designed and up-to-date presence on a few social media sites than to have nearly blank, out of date pages on every site available.  By jumping in too quickly, a library seeking to put forth a relevant, up-to-date image could end up coming across as disconnected and outdated, which is obviously an impression a library would like to avoid.