Am already a member of Facebook, as encouraged by offspring three years ago to use this for communicating and sharing photos with them. (We didn't know about Flickr). But have resisted using it for work purposes until now as it seemed inappropriate. Over the last year, however, I have appreciated getting messages from groups I belong to, e.g. notifications of music society events I might have overlooked otherwise. And this term I have heard an undergraduate say 'Oh, I don't look at emails or noticeboards, I just go onto Facebook for everything'.
So perhaps our library should have a presence there. I still think it's important that the library remain reasonably formal in its relationship with the body of junior members. It is fine to be friendly and informal when speaking to individuals in person but if the library is to retain its authority over rules and behaviour there has to be a recognised distance between staff and readers. Perhaps too old-fashioned a view? Are we now all meant to be the readers' new best friends?
What sort of library presence? What could we do for our readers and they for us? Possible advantages for readers:
Information about library where more convenient
Library appears more friendly and approachable
Readers can get more involved by commenting
and possible advantages for library:
Higher profile within college community
Can get feedback and monitor success or failure
Can establish closer relationship with readers
Much of this seems to to be PR but that of course is the name of the game nowadays. Food for thought anyway.
Helpful webpage re choosing between Facebook fan pages and Facebook group:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-group-vs-facebook-fan-page-whats-better/7761/
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