Back in September, I was asking around about libraries that allowed people to write comments in the OPAC. That’s when the Edmonton Public Library (EPL) and their awesome new website first came to my attention. If you haven’t yet visited it, go and check it out.
Today, I decided to check out their Facebook page and Twitter feed. Only a few hours ago, I thought the Vancouver Public Library was making good use of their Twitter feed. No longer! The Edmonton Public Library even came in at #26 in the top public libraries on Twitter in this list compiled by NFI Research, the only Canadian library on a list of nearly two hundred institutions.
Also quite unlike the Vancouver Public Library, the EPL lists their Facebook and Twitter feeds right on their homepage at the bottom next to their contact information and RSS feed. People definitely take advantage of the service too, with questions from the public being posted to both the Facebook and Twitter profiles. Another astounding feature was an EPL application for Facebook. I’ve always been skeptical of Facebook applications, but they’re good for enabling a younger demographic to search outside the library website.
What I was astounded to see was that the EPL Facebook and Twitter page differed radically in their content. For example, the Twitter feed announced that library patrons could access EPL music on the Naxos player on the iPhone on November 17 but it didn’t show up on the Facebook page until November 23rd. Rather than being an exercise in frustration, the EPL leverages the difference between the two social networking sites. There’s an ongoing taunt between the two sites, trying to pit the number of Twitter followers against the Facebook fans and vice-versa. The Facebook profile takes advantage of the ability to embed HTML snippets of websites and small thumbnails of photos. However, the Twitter moderator(s) wins the award for being the most personable. S/he (or they?) makes quirky remarks about news and movies, random links to happy donkey tales in the library catalogue, and in the last month there’s even been an incitement to compete in the new social networking game Foursquare, which requires users to check in the most often at real world locations to become the “mayor” of any given place, starting a virtual turf war at the EPL library branches!
It may seem odd, but all I want for Christmas is to visit the Edmonton Public library when I’m in town visiting my partner’s family for the first time. If the EPL is anything like it’s online social network, I think I’ll fit right in. I’ll even make sure to check in on Foursquare so they know I’ve been there.
[...] I mentioned Foursquare when I discussed the Edmonton Public Library in an earlier post. Foursquare is a combination social networking site and game. One aspect of the game is that the [...]