Fabulous Facebook

Ah, facebook, where would I be without you?

How would I know whose birthday it was? Who would remind me that The Little Big Book Club has the next months reading selection and craft activities available on their web page? Where else could I see photos of my friends bumper harvest from her backyard vegie garden?  

I am indeed a facebook fan!

I have less than the average number of facebook friends, and each of them I know personally. They're a combination of friends I went to school and uni with, work friends and colleagues, some wonderful people I've met in my travels,  relatives - including my children - and my children's friends. As a rule, I generally don't invite people to be friends, and if someone sends a friend request I weigh up the pros and cons before accepting/declining. I mean, do I really want to be friends with someone who barely said two civil words to me throughout our entire school years?  

Initially, I used facebook to share photos and information with family who live far away. Now, I tend to use it more for work purposes. If I come across an article I want to refer back to, or share with my colleagues, I pop it on my wall ... sometimes even my non-work friends make comments on them which is a bonus. I love starting and contributing to dialogue on library and literacy related issues!

Of course, I'm not above using facebook to keep an eye on what my girls are doing in their lives. Even though we have quite interesting and open dinner table conversations (thank goodness what's said at the table stays at the table!) I wouldn't be doing my job as a parent if I wasn't stalking ... I mean spying on ... no, no, communicating with my children on facebook.

Facebook for libraries is a no-brainer. It has to be one of the simplest - and cheapest - marketing tools available. It is a direct link to Gen Y (and whoever comes after Gen Y!), and increasingly to Gen X and Baby Boomers. Having a facebook page demonstrates that your library is keeping up with technological changes, able to provide information in a variety of formats and welcomes all members of the community.

It's about maintaining relevancy - and those of us who don't have a facebook page are at risk of lagging behind in customer service and information provision.

It would also help if clients who come into the library can access facebook on the public pcs, or even their own computers via the wireless network ... Being unable to do so reinforces the image of libraries as archaic, unable  and unwilling to embrace change and increasingly irrelevant in a digital information world. Yep, you guessed it ... a personal bug bear of mine, but I'm working through it ...

Oooh, must fly ... I've just received notification I have new facebook activity ...