Promoting libraries through wall : Needs, wants and opportunities

Most of the libraries nowadays were changing their promotion strategy by utilizing online social network such as Facebook as a channel to reach their services to the public. Libraries in Malaysia were not left behind in using this opportunities as a platform to promote their services towards the patrons a whole. However, there are still some limitations for the libraries in Malaysia to use Facebook applications thoroughly. Libraries in Malaysia need to do some research and observations to the maximum by utilizing the Facebook application in order for them to attract more patrons utilizing the Facebook that was developed by libraries.Facebook is developed as a medium for the patrons in getting to know the latest information, events, resources, products and services available in the libraries. This paper will focus on the barriers and limitations face by the librarians in using the Facebook towards promoting libraries resources, services, events, products and etc. Moreover, this paper also will discuss on how the libraries in Malaysia promoting their services as compare to the others international libraries. Standard frameworks of Facebook applications will be developed and used by Malaysian Libraries to ensure that they can utilize the Facebook successfully

The Digital Difference of Online Social Networking in the Carribean

Users of online social networking sites have made significant advances in the development of global virtual communities. With their origins in listservs, egroups, blogs, chat rooms and instant messaging, social networking sites provide opportunities for users with required skills, to construct public or semi-public profiles, to interact with ???friends??? and colleagues across the globe and to collaboratively create social capital. The presentation will focus on the impact of social networking on the Caribbean. It will examine participation of Caribbean people, including candidates in recent general elections held in 2007 and 2008, in popular social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. The assessment will cover factors influencing membership and participation, conditions under which content is created and information shared, as well as issues of privacy and protection. In recognition of the successes of these sites in facilitating interaction among large geographically dispersed groups of users, sharing content, collaborating with peers, and linking communities, the presentation will also examine and assess the role of information literacy the activities of library social networking sites, and their contribution to the development of interactive information resources in the social sciences.International Federation of Library AssociationsUniversity of Toronto, LibraryUniversity of Toronto, Faculty of InformationUniversity of Illinois, LibraryTitle VI National Resource Center Grant (P015A060066)unpublishednot peer reviewe

Facing the Future: the Changing Shape of Academic Skills Support at Bournemouth University

This paper explores the potential impact of changes to higher education in England on student expectations, engagement, lifestyles and diversity, and outlines implications for the development of digital literacy within academic skills support at Bournemouth University (BU). We will investigate how tackling resource constraints with organisational change can also enable efficient, centralised provision of support materials that utilise networks to overcome the risk of fragmented support for digital literacy. We will also look at how changing delivery modes for support can accommodate changing student lifestyles whilst tackling a weakness of centralised support for digital literacy: that it can become detached from the student’s subject-focused academic practice. Finally we will explore how involving students in developing support can help us to face changes to student expectations and engagement whilst ensuring that materials are authentic and speak to learners in their own voice

Ventures in Social Media

Academic libraries are actively involved in social media platforms as part of their campus communities. They have moved past the debate of whether to participate in social media and are focusing on strategies to develop engaging content and assessment of their efforts. Social media use in the campus classroom continues to grow with more faculty using social media in academic context. Given the widespread adoption of social media on the University of San Diego campus Copley Library formed a Social Media Committee (SMC) to manage the library’s social media presence with a mission to promoting the library’s services and events. After establishing Facebook and Twitter accounts the committee looked to expand their presence on other platforms. To determine which social media platforms undergraduates were using, the committee designed and administered a survey in the fall of 2013. The survey confirmed that USD undergraduates were still using Facebook and showed 56% now use multiple social media sites: Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram. The SMC diversified onto Instagram and Pinterest platforms to interact with students on visual platforms.Ye

Using Technology to Connect Public Libraries and Teens

Today’s teens use technology in most aspects of their lives: 95% of teens go online; 80% of online teens use social media (Lenhart et al., 2011); and 87% of older teens have a mobile phone (Lenhart, 2012). This article explores how public libraries can use technology to effectively connect with and serve their young adult patrons. A review of current literature suggests that librarians begin by involving teens in the planning of young adult services and teen library spaces. These services should include librarians trained in working with teens as well as access to technology and gaming. Libraries must understand how and why teens use technology and the Internet. They should then use this knowledge to plan and develop an online presence. Today’s librarians should use library websites and social networking sites to connect with teens. In addition, libraries must address other technologies that interest teens such as mobile devices and e-reading. Technology changes rapidly, and librarians must stay current on best practices for reaching out to and serving today’s teens

Student as producer and open educational resources: enhancing learning through digital scholarship

At the University of Lincoln, the student as producer agenda is seeking to disrupt consumer-based learning relationships by reinventing the undergraduate curriculum along the lines of research-engaged teaching. The open education movement, with its emphasis on creative commons and collaborative working practices, also disrupts traditional and formal campus-based education. This paper looks at the linkages between the Student as Producer project and the processes of embedding open educational practice at Lincoln. Both reinforce the need for digital scholarship and the prerequisite digital literacies that are essential for learning in a digital age

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0

Over the past 15 years, the web has transformed the way we seek and use information. In the last 5 years in particular a set of innovative techniques – collectively termed ‘web 2.0’ – have enabled people to become producers as well as consumers of information. It has been suggested that these relatively easy-to-use tools, and the behaviours which underpin their use, have enormous potential for scholarly researchers, enabling them to communicate their research and its findings more rapidly, broadly and effectively than ever before. This report is based on a study commissioned by the Research Information Network to investigate whether such aspirations are being realised. It seeks to improve our currently limited understanding of whether, and if so how, researchers are making use of various web 2.0 tools in the course of their work, the factors that encourage or inhibit adoption, and researchers’ attitudes towards web 2.0 and other forms of communication. Context: How researchers communicate their work and their findings varies in different subjects or disciplines, and in different institutional settings. Such differences have a strong influence on how researchers approach the adoption – or not – of new information and communications technologies. It is also important to stress that ‘web 2.0’ encompasses a wide range of interactions between technologies and social practices which allow web users to generate, repurpose and share content with each other. We focus in this study on a range of generic tools – wikis, blogs and some social networking systems – as well as those designed specifically by and for people within the scholarly community. Method: Our study was designed not only to capture current attitudes and patterns of adoption but also to identify researchers’ needs and aspirations, and problems that they encounter. We began with an online survey, which collected information about researchers’ information gathering and dissemination habits and their attitudes towards web 2.0. This was followed by in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a stratified sample of survey respondents to explore in more depth their experience of web 2.0, including perceived barriers as well as drivers to adoption. Finally, we undertook five case studies of web 2.0 services to investigate their development and adoption across different communities and business models. Key findings: Our study indicates that a majority of researchers are making at least occasional use of one or more web 2.0 tools or services for purposes related to their research: for communicating their work; for developing and sustaining networks and collaborations; or for finding out about what others are doing. But frequent or intensive use is rare, and some researchers regard blogs, wikis and other novel forms of communication as a waste of time or even dangerous. In deciding if they will make web 2.0 tools and services part of their everyday practice, the key questions for researchers are the benefits they may secure from doing so, and how it fits with their use of established services. Researchers who use web 2.0 tools and services do not see them as comparable to or substitutes for other channels and means of communication, but as having their own distinctive role for specific purposes and at particular stages of research. And frequent use of one kind of tool does not imply frequent use of others as well