Social media application in digital libraries
| Pages | 502-523 |
| Date | 12 June 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-11-2013-0261 |
| Published date | 12 June 2014 |
| Author | Iris Xie,Jennifer Stevenson |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval |
Social media application
in digital libraries
Iris Xie and Jennifer Stevenson
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applications of social media in digital
libraries and identify related problems.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of ten institutions were selected from the following
cultural institution types – public libraries, academic libraries, museums, government, and
international organisations – to represent a variety of digital libraries developed or sponsored by
different types of organisations. The social media applications were examined with regard to the
following aspects: types of social media, placement of social media, updating social media, types of
interactions, and types of functions.
Findings – This study presents the types of social media applications in the selected digital libraries
and further characterises their placements, update frequency, types of interactions between digital
librarians and users, as well as various types of roles they played. In the process of analysis the
authors also identified problems related to lack of standards, creating two-way communication
channels, and the lack of education functions.
Research limitations/implications – Further research needs to expand the selection of institutions
and digital libraries to have more representative sampling, in particular institutions that are outside
North America and Europe. It is also important to perform in-depth content analysis of social media to
identify patterns and functions that social media perform. Moreover the authors will compare specific
social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., across institutions. In order to explore fully
the reason why certain social media tools are implemented in digital libraries, it is impo rtant to
survey or interview digital librarians of digital libraries in different types of cultural institutions.
In addition users can be interviewed to solicit their perspectives about their usage of social media in
digital libraries.
Originality/value – This study not only examines the current status and problems of social media
application in digital libraries but also offers suggestions on making good use of social media to
connect users and digital libraries.
Keywords Social media, Twitter, Digital libraries, Facebook, Blogs
Paper type Research paper
Introduction and literature review
Social media is a means of communication through the internet that enables social
interaction. It is an effective approach for people to use in communicating and
interacting with each other. Simultaneously more organisations are applying social
media to promote their services and interact with their users or patrons. In this study
cultural institutions’ use of social media as applied to their digital libraries is analysed.
Cultural institutions are defined as libraries, museums, and archives. The primary
focus is to define various social media applications and to research existing literature
regarding how and why libraries, museums, and archives have implemented social
media applications in their institutions. In particular the aim is to identify digital
libraries and their associated institutions that have implemented soc ial media as a part
of their services.
There are different variations of social media. The most popularly applied social
media in digital libraries include blogs, Facebook, photo sharing, podcasts, RSS feeds,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Received 17 November 2013
First revision approved
5 January 2014
Online Information Review
Vol. 38 No. 4, 2014
pp. 502-523
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-11-2013-0261
502
OIR
38,4
Twitter, YouTube, and wikis. There is some cross-classification as a few social media
applications have more than one function. For example Twitter is a social networking
site, but at the same time, it also serves to share photos and is classified as a microblog.
Based on relevant literature Table I defines different types of social media.
Few studies have looked specifically at social media andits usage in digital libraries.
Instead the majorityof literature focuses on socialmedia usage in cultural institutionsas
a whole and nottheir associated digital libraries. While the focus is notdirectly on digital
libraries, some important information can be learned from these studies. For example
Buigues-Garcia and Gimenez-Chornet (2012) concentrated on social media’s impact on
national libraries to find the types of services and technologies that were most
appropriate for library web sites. The libraries were located from URL repositories and
social media tools. The study found that out of all national library web sites in the
world, only a quartercan be considered Library 2.0; a significant portion of the web sites
are located in American and Europe. Buigues-Garcia and Gimenez-Chornet (2012)
identified the most implemented social media tools in libraries such as Facebook or
Twitter and user information services such as RSS, publication of bulletins, blogs, or
digital/virtuallibraries. The study didnot identify the popularity behindthe use of social
media from a user’s perspective, only from the digital librarian side. In relation a study
conducted by Gerolimos (2011) reviewed the framework of academic libraries’ use of
social media. He argued that social mediamight be disconnecting the library’s functions
into too many different facets of information.
As many cultural institutions have already implemented social media in other facets
of services, it seems natural to begin to add social media to digital libraries, especially
since social media was created to enable users to communicate and connect with each
other. In addition scholarly communication can take place via social media. Cho (2013)
asserted that academic libraries should be using specific social media applications that
allow new ways of communication. Gu and Wide
´n-Wulff (2011) found that researchers
have a variety of information practices, and suggested that librarians need to
incorporate social medi a in ways to further scholarly communication. Perhaps one of
the ways that librarians could potentially strengthen information practices is through
the incorporation of social media in digital library collections. One example of
integration of social media in a digital librar y is demonstrated by the Denver Public
Library. The Denver Public Library’s digital collections allow users to share
information via a social media application when they are viewing the individual items;
as opposed to the Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library, which does not allow users to
share information found in the digital library at the collection level. The Denver Public
Library allows users to share information found in the digital library via a multitude of
social media applications, from popular applications such as Facebook to more user
driven applications such as Reddit. There are a number of potential benefits from
integrating social media with digital libraries; however, few institutions have made the
step to include social media that link directly with their digital library collections.
The literature suggests several reasons to include social media in digital library
collections. A study conducted by McDonnell and Shiri (2011)found that the integration
of social media search applications into digital libraries made users feel more
comfortable when using the digital library. As a result users achieved better search
results. Russo etal. (2009) found that education is now encompassing traits of new
media, shifting from a traditional focus on print material to digital materials. Studies
need to be conducted in order to gainknowledge and expertise as to how digital libraries
are portraying and displaying social media in conjunction with digital collections.
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Social media
application in
digital libraries
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