www.le.ac.uk

The Thing on the DoorstepNetworking socially at Leicester

Gareth J JohnsonDocument Supply & Repository ManagerDavid Wilson LibraryUniversity of Leicester

MmIT NW 9th July 2010

Slides: http://tinyurl.com/yjaqjs4

Behind the Scenes…

Overview

• Social networking experiences at Leicester

• The challenges and the triumphs

• What we’ve learned

Leicester University

• Top 20 in all National tables– 91% student satisfaction rate– 6th Highest citations rates relative to size

• 23,000 students– 41% Distance Learners

• Around 1000 academic staff– 93% submitted for RAE ’08– 87% determined to be producing

internationally significant research

• 4 Colleges– Moved from faculty structure this academic

year

DWL Facts• Multi-award winning• 1500 User spaces• 38km shelving• 1M+ volumes on

shelves• 350 PCs + wireless

network• 13 Group study rooms• Graduate Media Zoo• 2 IT training suites• Also houses Careers,

Accessibility & Student Learning Deptswww.le.ac.uk/li/about/building/factsandfigures.htm

Responses to Social Networking

UoL Library Blog• Initial efforts faltered some years

previously

• 2008 complete restart– New team of enthusiasts– House rules for contributions

• Style & purpose– Reflective, informal but professional tone– Target audience of library and institution

• Started quietly to gain voice & proof of concept– Went “public” after a month– All staff invited to contribute (few accept)

http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/

UoL Library Blog

• External cloud based platform (WordPress)– High customisability & low technical

requirements– Avoids UoL branding issues by external hosting

• Knowledge based information resource– Referenced in official memos– Included in staff induction pack references

• Team keeps a watching brief on items of interest– Prompts each other for articles– Encourages involvement of new staff members

• Project blogs

DWL Facebook

• An attempt to reach into users’ social spaces

• Library page to promote services– Maintained by Information Librarians– Over 1,200 fans currently

• Rolls out and links to official news– Also houses some HQ images of the library– Replies to the occasional comment

• Not actively promoted beyond front page links

http://www.iconarchive.com/show/web-2-icons-by-fasticon/FaceBook-icon.html

Graduate School Reading Room

• Smaller fan base (>100)– But higher levels of content and support– Enthusiastically supported by Research Forum

Facilitator

• Advertises courses and links of interest to graduates

• Low commentary levels on both Facebook presences– Regularly policed for inappropriate comments

Twittering

• Joined a month after starting (e.2008)– Links with local academics & students easier to

forge

• An alternative & effective communication channel– Engaging with a self-selected group of

enthusiasts– Resultant involvement in projects, teaching and

information sharing

• Linking with the wider community– Enquiry resolution, crowdsourcing, feedback &

cross-pollination

Twitter in Practice• Workshop back-channel

– Multilayered conversations that can be harvested too

– Live session feedback

• Monitoring the conversation– Alerts for common #tags

• Library twitter accounts– Library news & Repository content

• Professional awareness– Virtual conference attendance– Following the daily zeitgeist

http://www.iconarchive.com/show/web-2-icons-by-fasticon/Twitter-icon.html

Wikis

• PM.Wiki– Enquiry team manual, locally installed

• WetPaint– Cloud computing service with live linkage– Two team manuals on it now– Locked as private resource

• Team ownership– Allows easy editing by all, although in reality…– Allows rapid record of S.O.P.– Allows easy access globally 24/7

http://uoldocumentsupplymanual.wetpaint.com/page/Outgoing+Loans

Web 2.0 Projects• Smallworldz

– Academic attempt to build PG professional networks

– Students didn’t like enforced networking

• SM@LL– Portal project drawing on Delicious and Netvibes

sites– Up front discussions and development using

twitter (#smallJISCRI) & Google Docs

• My Leicester Digital Archive– Video, image and text digitisation project– OCLC Content.dm with folksonomy and

community content addition

Web 2.0 at Leicester

• Library Blog

• Library Facebook presence

• Personal & Corporate Twitter accounts

• SlideShare

• Delicious social bookmarking

• Smallwordlz

• Team wikis

• Projects

• YouTube

• Chat Enquiries

• Google docs for collaboration

• Web 2.0 community

What We’ve Learned• Helps break down corporate façade

– Humanises and personifies the service

– Concerns over splitting personal from professional

• Justifying it to senior management can be tricky– “It isn’t suitable for US!”

– “Isn’t email good enough?”

– Concerns over loss of control, clarity of message

• Stalkers and hidden followers can be an issue– Majority of interactions promising and supportive

What We’ve Learned

• “I think we do reporting/reflecting on events quite well & sometimes provoke a response.” Selina Lock

• “…one strength is the building of networks within the institutions, and how it can bring people to work together that may not have done otherwise - in particular when they find out they have common interests.” Sarah Whittaker

• “I think our strength is definitely individuals promoting the library through social networking as 'personalities', rather than necessarily as one unified institutional identity…The major barrier is the way social networking is viewed by sceptics in the institution.” Katie Fraser

Final Thoughts

• Social networking is about cultural change, and playing a proactive part

• Go where the community is - don’t expect them to come to where you are?

• Be prepared but not downhearted by setbacks

• A lot depends on prevailing ethos and personalities

• You have to be prepared to open the door…

• Gareth J Johnson, DS&R Manager– Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk– Tel: 0116-252-2039– Web 2.0: llordllama

Contact

References

• Slides– [TBC]

• Facebook DWLibrary– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2– http://tinyurl.com/2w5cxgp

• Leicester UoL Web 2.0 Community– http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2

• UoL Library Blog– http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/