Ah, yes...the M Word

The delicate subject of marketing was introduced to us last July at the user.ed@cambridge meeting. And there was a talk given in March by that charming young gentleman from Scopus, who gave us all a free book ‘A Short-cut to Marketing the Library’, where ‘furniture as a marketing tool’ was suggested. You’ll see later that I have taken this on board.

Certainly won’t be going the pencils and pens route, as this might be more appropriate for new undergrads. Nor mugs either – and a certain well-known serials supplier might like to know that getting our journals in time [or at all] would be appreciated more than getting free mugs at libraries@cambridge. Have decided on posters instead.

But, all right, seriously, if we must. What's my JOB? The most important thing is that people realise it is not about ‘the library’ or books, but about them getting information in the most efficient and reliable way available. And to '.. train people to take the intellectual initiative' as Seth Godin put it in the Prezi thingy. THAT'S the important bit. And, surprise, we tweed-clad harpies can help! I still think a real person is worth a thousand Facebook profiles.

Working in two smallish department libraries, I am lucky in that department members know that the physical libraries are right there, accessible 24/7, so there's no serious bums-on-seats issue. Yes, Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen would have a meltdown at the physical environment, but there's a cold financial wind blowing - so there's not much to be said for that. Students are mostly 3rd years and PhDs when they arrive, and they get compulsory library talks and separate www sessions, so half the battle is won already. The intention is to convey that the library is there if they need it, and I am around if they need help with finding information. The main problem is the attitude of some senior people, who insist ‘everything is on the web these days’ and ‘nobody uses libraries these days’ – ie they have their own offices and they only ever look for specific cited papers. We have to be ‘out there’ to counteract that.

[I am by the way well aware that people other than department members are potential marketing, er, targets, but that’s a different ball game]

Right, I haven't answered the question, essay returned, where's the Crail Bartle Bogle Fogarty interface in the Infotheque? How can I use all these Web 2.0 toys to help others’ information needs? If anything, it won’t be for marketing, more for publicity [= different]. Yes, yes, this is reaction not proaction, but anticipating and innovating needs time and careful consideration. Despite a lengthy period spent in several educational emporia at the bottom end of the THE charts, Crail is no specialist in the skills required. Andy’s list of possibles would require a heck of a lot of time ergo staff to set up and even to maintain/evolve. Jane has listed the updates to be done already in Zoology.

OK, so what would help MY users?

• Appropriate info and news on the websites, via RSS if necessary, but certainly not bloody Tweets


• Have already done but will develop:


• Bookmarks on Delicious, that’s a definite, but for user ed, not for marketing


• Encouraging people to organise their work with Mendeley/EndNote … and now Zotero


• Helping them set up appropriate RSS feeds for their own research interests
  
  
• For sure they are most interested in making their lives easier, but I do believe a good website, tied to the ‘brand’, is important, and still the most obvious place to look for information [Yes, Crail’s current websites are decidedly doo-doo but these are undergoing extensive cosmetic surgery as we speak]


• A reasonable page on Facebook, if it’s almost an expectation, is probably a good idea


• Blogs only for information feeds, and no more of this navel-gazing, jolly fun though it has been

And the Crail ingule ....

• Whether I personally am on LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter is neither here nor there for the library


• Flickr is largely irrelevant in the library context, nice toy though


• LibraryThing is plundered but I cannot contribute


• Podcasts, YouTube, SlideShare &c : no. Good tools but not for me, alas, being THE staff for two libraries

Oh, I nearly forgot, the posters. See how I've cleverly worked the furniture bit into the third one?

Big isn't always better

As Miss Jean Brodie so wisely said, 'Seven inches is quite enough' - though ostensibly she was talking about the appropriate amount to have the classroom window open. Sorry, off the point.

On ITN this morning, the news that Facebook has attained its 500 millionth member - 8% of the entire planet are on it. Maybe a Cam23er was the 500 millionth, maybe one of us will emerge unsuspecting from our place of work, we thought to the sandwich bar, but instead into our 15 mins of fame, faced with a baying press pack 'How has Facebook changed your life?' 'Are we headed for a double dip?' 'Who's going to win Big Brother?'

'Is social media a fad?' said 50% of all internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook, and Social Media Revolution 2010 said users are spending an average of almost an hour a day on Facebook. Perhaps the reason I dislike aspects of Twitter and Facebook so much is that [in my opinion] they are just too big. They have strayed dangerously from their original ethos and business interests have weasled in. As Carol says, Facebook is pretty much the perfect resource for those who are removed physically from family, friends and colleagues, and it has most of the bolt-ons you'd want for that function. But now it is so dominant, we are even being asked to believe it can operate as a creditable search engine.

Wouldn't it be interesting to stand up in front of a new group of students, show the Facebook page and say, 'Here you go kiddies, this is all you need'...? Am actually considering doing that, just to see the reaction [if they are awake, of course]. Then I'd have to do the Alvy Singer thing 'Ah, if only life were like that'.

Having a library page on it is fine - or has to be if everyone else has one - though perhaps a lot of effort to create and update a good one, for possibly little return. [The libraries listed in the 'task' have made a fine job of their Facebook pages, but it's awfully difficult to get away from that 'busy' look]. Who exactly would the audience be? As Lottie says, we have to be careful how we pitch it. Moonhare has reminded us that the LSE study mentions that some students resented libraries muscling in on their social circle. Dad-dancing again, but harmless [not like big businesses, anyway].

I attended a JISC workshop 'Maximising Online Resources Effectiveness' a couple of months ago, and could see their argument that for most universities [sic] a presence on many platforms is probably necessary. We were referred to a study that apparently demonstrates that the "words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web" in 2009 were Twitter, Google, Facebook, iPhone, youTube. Nota bene, children, "words" as well as "brands". Obama was no. 6, Oprah no. 42 [arguably the latter at least also a brand], but the rest of the top 50 were all brands. Hmm, do I detect something ... stinky?

Remember the presentation from the launch of Cam23 - 'Is Social media a fad?' [We got that at the SCAMORE workshop too]. Lots of us probably sat swaying to Fat Boy Slim's specially-chosen hypnotic tones, eyes like Mowgli's when Kaa sang 'Trusssst in me', and at the end said 'Yeah, RIGHT! Let's GO!' Anyway, the presentation predicted "We will no longer search for products and services. They will find us on social media". It's a business proposition - We are being profiled, categorised, used, but we're being told we have control if we stick our little thumbs up on Facebook. I'm not saying it's all bad - just that we have to be careful about going where we're led, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's related to the 'unknown unknown' phenomenon when searching for info : do we take what's thrown at us or do we find things as well?