Libraries and Social Media: How Social Media is a Communications Multiplier and How Libraries Can Help

Libraries and Social Media: How Social Media is a Communications Multiplier and How Libraries Can Help

Walter Oliwa

          Social media is a way people can communicate. In the past, speaking or writing was a way to connect to one other person or maybe in a theater or lecture a few hundred. With books and other print, and radio and tv came along more people could get content, but all depended on taking in content and only few people took the time to respond back. Libraries made books and now the internet available to facilitate communication between many people (Wikipedia). Social media can not only distribute communication to others but form a network of communications. This is what I mean by a “Communications Multiplier.” I take this term from a military term of “Force Multiplier” which means something military which increases the force of one solder to many. Social media increases the communication of one person to a network of people.

          Libraries can use social media in two ways (ALA, 2018). One is to advertise or make known their services to the public, and the other way is to help patrons learn how to use social media. Libraries use their website to let the public know information about them and then link them to services. Libraries usually have available computers for patrons to use with internet available, and libraries can either help people learn to use the internet and give help with social media use or run workshops on learning to use social media.

          Libraries which use social media are recommended by the American Library Association to have a social media policy (ALA, 2018). These guidelines published in 2018, recommend that libraries consider first amendment rights when using social media. If a library only puts out information, without taking comments, it does not have to worry about free speech rights. But if a library has a social media site which takes comments, then it needs to consider first amendment rights. ALA recommends having a clear posted policy.

                                                        

References

"Social Media Guidelines for Public and Academic Libraries", American Library Association, July 2, 2018.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/socialmediaguidelines (Accessed February 21, 2024)

Document ID: 00eec2Wikipedia contributors. (2024, February 21). Social media. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:31, February 21, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_media&oldid=120931589508-d906-414b-a9c2-7e123d6f53ff