Thing 15: VBPL and social networking

Well, are we ever going to MySpace or Facebook it? I've read various articles and have been swayed from my original opinion as to whether we should or not. At first, I thought this myspace stuff was just the craze of the day. after more thought and investigation, it seems that these sites may not be here to stay, but they are certainly the precursor of whatever is going to come next. if major advertisers like coca cola and you name it are going after the screen-agers where they currently live in cyperspace, then libraries need to make that effort to meet teens there too! if we don't get on this bandwagon soon, we're sure to be left in the dust.

aren't we always saying we need to be involved with future generations of library users? if we don't get them now, they'll be sold on wikipedia for life and will never know they need a more authoritative and reliable source. there goes their need for the library - or at least the need may still exist but they'll never be aware of it.

sure, there are alot of controversies and considerations with having a page on say, myspace. for one, it's got to be kept current! we can't rely on one virtual librarian to maintain a vibrant myspace area where kids will want to visit time and again. it's got to be a team effort,and would be great to have the teens of the library involved.

also we'll have to address the issue of comments and community postings to our myspace page. who will our friends be? these are exciting questions to answer! in thinking about these answers, we're actually helping define our library strategies as well as our virtual identity. these are things we need to be thinking about.

i know the marketing team is always looking for ways to increase usage and circulation. well, here's one strategy just staring us in the face - let's take advantage of it!