Social Networks and the Library

Greetings!

Personally, I have had enough snow to last me from here until next Christmas. I'm all for having the white stuff falling from the skies at a reasonable rate because it fills up the water table, protects the roots of perennial plants, crops, trees, and insects. But enough is enough. I have been quoting the movie "Ground Hog's Day" a lot recently (see my column in the DeForest Times Tribune, and ask my co-workers). which I'll have to paraphrase here : "You want a prediction? I'll give you a prediction. It's going to be cold. It's going to be gray. And it's going to last for the rest of your life." This pretty much sums up my recent mental state. Which of course brings us to social networking!

I was going to say that I have somewhat mixed feelings on the whole issue, but upon a few minutes more reflection, I don't. I'm all for having a presence anywhere we can find potential customers and supporters. Public libraries -- and maybe all libraries -- are in serious trouble. Talk about the 500 pound gorilla in the room! Many public libraries seem to think what's happening in the world of technology is just another fad -- sort of like phonograph records, and then cassettes, and then cds, and then digital audio books -- we will find a way to continue to check out materials to people or provide downloads "on loan" so that our major function of loaning materials continues non-stop into the future. Well, that future may be our future, but it isn't the future of the little pre-schooler crawling around the story hour room.

There is every indication that fundamental changes are occurring in the younger generations that have always had computers, email, social networking, cell phones, and social networking. It is a very different world. Sure, that argument is made by every older generation about every younger generation and has been since the ancient Greeks ( and I know this because I'm a well-read individual but I'm not sure how well-read our future generations will be.) I'm not sure even with all the move towards cool technologies that libraries will survive. I'm not real sure about reading as a way of getting information either. I have been attending reading conference lately and it seems to me that the big publishing houses and the teachers of reading are pretty convinced that it will remain the same old same old for the foreseeable future. I have heard futurist speak about implanting chips so that you can instantly speak Chinese. So why would you need a book? I wish I were less cynical. I'm worried that public libraries are rapidly becoming the best dang buggy whip makers in the world just as Mr. Ford is creating the assembly line and starting to crank out automobiles at a price that assures every family in the United States will own one in the next few years. I believe that libraries that think their job is having information and other traditional library materials are doomed. So hooray for social networking. Let's be out there where our next generation of library users and supporters live. Let's invite them to use our services and let's find out from them what those services might be.

About 15 years ago, I co-authored a paper about the future of public libraries that I presented at the International Popular Culture Conference in Oxford (that's England, not the Wisconsin correctional facility). In that paper, we opined that while traditional library materials would continue to be part of the public library's offerings for the foreseeable future, that providing real things to checkout and real experience would be a role that libraries could (and probably should) evolve into. Providing real things for loan gets you into providing emerging technology for the community to play with ( as well as chainsaws and cartoon-character-shaped cake pans, I suppose) . If there's interest and a component part (like gaming software) that it makes sense to loan, then loan it. But the more important role is providing real experiences and by that we meant face-to-face time. It is all very well to meet in cyberspace and talk about things and see pixelated people smiling into their webcams and even hearing them on voip connections, but for at least a few more decades, we will remain mammals (and gregarious ones at that) and eventually need to see the person we are relating to in the flesh. Libraries can provide a place for this kind of social networking. People with like interests can actually come together and meet each other and eat a cookie and talk. We have a number of teens and tweens that come into the library to hang with their friends. Sure, they could be on-line with them but they like being in physical proximity. Providing opportunities to play games side-by-side , in real time, in the same space,have been extremely popular. Providing public forums for adults to talk about issues that concern them or about recent books or films are a good use too of this other type of social networking. So, as I said a while ago -- before I started my sermon on libraries generally-- making potential users and supporters aware that you are aware of them, asking for their input, and letting them know that you have responded to their input, is a very good thing. Just hanging out in cyberspace to be cool is not. It's not cool (to those you are trying to be cool for) and it's not utile.

I would also note, as I so often do, that if a library is going to have a blog, or a presence on a social network,or instant messaging, or even something as basic as a website, it has to commit the staff time to respond frequently, and to keep things updated. And these are not small time commitments. I visited the myspace sites of a couple of libraries and there were broken links and I couldn't get in to one site for a very long time. These weren't necessarily the library's fault, but still.... not very cool.

Thanks very much for listening! I feel much better now.

Ratty