Successful Social Networking in Public Libraries

Walt Crawford

Jan 2014 · American Library Association

About this eBook

Most commentaries to date on library use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have focused on a handful of well-funded public libraries with high-profile employees.  Now Crawford’s Successful Social Networking in Public Libraries fills in the rest of the picture, offering for the first time an in-depth look at how a large variety of public libraries are using social networks. Examining nearly 6,000 libraries across the US, Crawford

• Analyzes social network usage by libraries of many different sizes and funding levels, showing how many of them are active and effective in quite different ways
• Offers many examples that will help other libraries establish or refine their own social networking activities
• Lays out several key questions that libraries should ask themselves, such as “Who do we want to reach?” and “What’s the best way to interact with communities?”
• Gives libraries guidelines for setting social networking goals and conducting ongoing evaluation
• Includes illuminating comments from numerous librarians on the front lines of communication

Based on broad research, Crawford draws a vivid portrait that shows how a wide range of public libraries is conducting digital outreach and marketing through social networking.

About the author

Walt Crawford is an internationally recognized writer and speaker on libraries, technology, policy and media. Author of numerous books, articles, and columns, Crawford is also the creator, writer and publisher of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, an ejournal on the intersections of libraries, policy, technology and media published monthly since 2001. He maintains a blog on these and other issues, Walt at Random. He received the LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication for Continuing Education in Library and Information Science in 1995, the ALCTS/Blackwell Scholarship Award in 1997, and the Gale Group Online Excellence in Information Authorship Award in 1998.