Social Networking: Who Do You Know? By: Neiketa Johnson

Online Social Networking

The overall goal of the School Library Media Center is to increase circulation of books and other resource offerings.  Increasing the appeal of the SLMC to students by utilizing social media is one step in the right direction. K-12 students are social media savvy and would love the opportunity to access these websites at will. Media centers must be able to respond to the needs of its users by staying abreast of current web tool trends that engage its users. Social networking is an influential tool and media centers should embrace the opportunity to engage its users in a Library Media Center social networking site. The patrons SLMC’s serve are those that are actively engaging in social media. And if we are to garner the attention of the youth we serve, then we must participate in the activities that interest them in order to be relevant.

Target Your Audience

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, KIK, Instagram, Google Hangouts, Pinterest, and Flickr are a few of the most popular social networking websites with which most of us are familiar. Adults and children alike utilize one or more of these most popular social networks. Most social networking websites strive to reach a target audience while some seek wide mainstream appeal and others focus on attracting a niche group. Media centers enhance the content instruction by providing additional resources and social media tools can prove to be a current tool to aid in this endeavor. Group collaboration and discussion is significant to the learning model in most classes and social networking sites can facilitate such encounters for students. One such example is the educational counterpart to Facebook called Edmodo. This is a tool that allows teachers to create a page and students are invited to join by creating a profile and teachers can post documents, links, audio/video, information to the site for students. Surveys, discussions, quizzes, and tests can be arranged via Edmodo.  I have found Edmodo to be the most efficient tool I have used this school year. I post assignments, initiate discussion, give quizzes/tests, engage parents, and share and learn from other content area teachers.

Social Networking with OPAC

Social networking sites have been integrated into library automation systems. These systems provide “user tagging, user comments, reviews, ratings, added subjects and keywords, and other information to provide peer input to library collections, as well as many other user-centered applications”.  As we approach this topic with an open mind we will find that offering patrons the most current means of information gathering is the right step in the digital direction in which we all should be heading. Most schools are slowly getting on board with the digital trends. My school has blocked access to all the popular social networks- although students find ways around the filters. I support the filtering of the social networks for personal networking purposes. We have access to Edmodo and most teachers have replaced webpages for Edmodo.

Media specialists must be engaged in what’s going on in our digital society in order to be current and make our media centers relevant. We must participate in educational social networks to assist with hosting social media for the students we serve. According to Library 2.0 and Beyond: Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s Users, there are six steps to follow to help guide your library’s entrance into the social networking environment.

Step 1: Explore- Create a personal account and explore the capabilities of the website.

Step 2:  Set the Ground Rules- Decide who will maintain the SLMC’s presence on the social networking site.

Step 3:  Add Content- Emphasize celebrating the media center.

Step 4:  Advertise- Identify and invite potential patrons into your networking community.

Step 5: Update Regularly- As your community grows, continue to provide new content.

Step 6:  Have Fun with It! The social networking experience is what you make it. Show the personality of your media center and encourage conversation with patrons.

Notable Educational Social Networking Websites

Edmodo.com

Moodle.org

Twiducate.com

Diipo.com

Notable OPAC Social Networking Website links

http://maisonbisson.com/blog/post/10956

http://www.librarytechnology.org/?SID=20080826919311523&Username=&timeout=1219790620

http://www4.auto-graphics.com/solutions/libraries.htm

http://fish4info.org/gofish

References:

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

               Seven things you should know about wikis. (2005, July). Retrieved from                http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf

Fiehn, B. (2008, September 01). Social networking and your library OPAC. Retrieved from http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=59618

Valenza, J. (2014, March 03). Teacherlibrarianning. Retrieved from http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/