Relationship and role transformations in social media environments
| Date | 09 August 2011 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471111156704 |
| Published date | 09 August 2011 |
| Pages | 421-428 |
| Author | Hazel Hall |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Relationship and role
transformations in social media
environments
Hazel Hall
Centre for Social Informatics, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper seeks to challenge how librarians conceive a number of relationships –
between themselves, social media tools, and end-users, and to argue that this determines the
boundaries of service innovation.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops themes and ideas derived from research
projects on deployment of social media by library and information professionals completed within the
Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University.
Findings – Librarians currently demonstrate more sophisticated use of social media for personal
professional purposes than for services delivery; a number of challenges currently limit the extent to
which librarians are able to exploit social media to full advantage; fuller exploitation of social media is
possible when librarians transfer the good practice exhibited in personal professional use to
applications for services delivery; service innovations are considered before tools; and end users are
treated as collaborating clients rather than consuming customers.
Originality/value – The paper is of interest to those keen to take advantage of the opportunities
offered by social media that extend beyond replicating existing service delivery.
Keywords Social media,Innovation, End-users, Collaboration,Service delivery
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
Based on a keynote paper presented at “Internet Librarian International 2010” (Hall,
2010), this specially expanded article argues that the way in which librarians conceive
a number of relationships – between themselves, socia l media tools, and end-users –
determines the boundaries of service innovation. The discussion is set against a
context that considers how social media currently provide additional platforms for
traditional information services delivery, the characteristics that social media share
with other technological implementations, and the corresponding challenges that thes e
present. It is argued that the sophisticated deployment of social media exhibited by
librarians in their personal professional use of tools is yet to be extended into
mainstream services to end-users. Moreover, the potential of social media as a platform
for collaborative working where end-users and librarians develop services together
remains to be exploited. This work draws on recent research on collaboration in onlin e
environments completed at Edinburgh Napier University. The perspective is that of a
researcher with a background in information services provision, who is also a regular
consumer of information delivered over social media platforms. The social media
implementation at the UK Library and Information Science Research Coalition (http://
lisresearch.org) is deployed to illustrate points made in the discussion.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Relationship
and role
transformations
421
Received March 2011
Accepted April 2011
The Electronic Library
Vol. 29 No. 4, 2011
pp. 421-428
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471111156704
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