Face it.
I had an interesting exchange with Casey this morning in which he mentioned his library’s presence on Facebook. This has been a peripheral debate for quite a few months. Obviously, I’ve been quick to embrace social software and its trappings on libraries’ behalf, but I wonder, at times, that the craze around it hasn’t gotten a bit too much. Quickly jumping into every new collaborative tool that comes along without questioning its appropriateness is just as bad as ignoring them. Online, as in life, there is a time and a place for libraries. And two facebook experiences have led me to conclude that this one might be the equivalent of bringing a new reference book to a kegger.
The Technologies, co-opting new post on A Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette was my first warning. It conjured Revenge of the Nerds type images. Having come into my own poise and sophistication late in life, they’re images that resonate. My fears were confirmed when a recently graduated friend - a former football player (read: with a much better idea of much of the student body than I ever had, even when I was a student) who exists far from the context of libraries, mentioned Facebook. I countered by asking what he thought about setting up a library presence there - the look on his face spoke volumes. When pushed, he admitted: “What’s the point? It’s just a place to hook-up online. What do you hope to get out of it?” What, indeed.
Libraries are thoroughly initiated into the geek scene, but marginally - we still might pull it off with a redeeming quality: too smart, but a great sense of style; or gawky wallflowers, but with such a quirky sense of humor, that we’re still invited to the parties. Don’t be lulled, however, we’re still flirting with the dork-darkside - do YOU want to be the one to push us over the edge? Talk about losing credibility, folks - sheesh. We might not get asked to prom…
But seriously, here’s the point - we need to look before we leap. Casey did come up with some convincing arguments, characteristically backed up with numbers. So maybe there is a place in Facebook for us. I guess I’m just still looking, with my back against the wall, near the door, until the this party really gets going.
Tags: facebook, geek, nerd, social software, tools
January 30th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
What Does Facebook Matter To Libraries?
Lichen pointed me to this Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette post about new technologies:
Keep up to date with new technologies that you can co-opt for library use. So what if no one will ever listen to the pod casts of your bibliographic instructi…
February 1st, 2006 at 12:14 am
Just to be clear, I joined Facebook as a lurker and, like you, would probably run from any attempt to offer library services there.
My interest is in what lessons these services offer us, and how we can make our existing services work better for patrons who have made the online world such a large part of their lives.
February 1st, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Oh… Many apologies; I misunderstood you. I think that means I have to rethink my rethinking and, well, since I’m lazy, that sounds great… get it?
February 6th, 2006 at 10:48 am
[...] Last week I aired my doubts about libraries stepping into the Facebook frey. A marginal (position, not quality) note about the service from our parents’ newsletter : Facebook.com has become a phenomenon on college campuses nationwide. With self-authored profiles of tens of thousands of students, the site is a repository of personal information and photographs. Talk to your student about his or her profile and the potential consequences associated with making personal information available on the World Wide Web. [...]