I just made a new discovery in my quest to find Canadian libraries: Reference Rick’s Twitter list of Canadian Libraries. The list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a good place to start my exploration of Canadian institutions. Of course, it does raise separate issues, such as, just who is Reference Rick anyway and why is he making these random library lists anyway? I’m not a fan of anonymity when it comes to professional roles, but in Reference Rick’s case, I’m willing to forgive a lot because of his awesome alliteration.
A quick scan of the Canadian Libraries Twitter list revealed that Halifax Public Library (HPL) was another big contributor to the blogosphere. Their Twitter page is quite different from the EPL and VPL Twitter feeds that I’ve already examined. The HPL does not use Twitter to promote events at their branches, although some are listed. Instead, a collection of articles on social media uses for business and local archival and genealogical sources. I can’t help but wonder if the HPL feels overshadowed by the very successful Nova Scotia Archives Twitter feed, which has almost 2,000 followers (the HPL has just 282). Certainly archival matters are closely related to libraries, but why on earth is the HPL sending out links for starting a blogging business (Nov 28th) or starting a graphic design business (Nov. 25th)? Simply put, the HPL feed represents an aggregation of links of people and RSS feeds they are following. This is perhaps best represented in the Twitter lists that they have created for “business,” “genealogy,” and “libraries.” The last certainly is of little interest for library patrons, who just want to get to their own librarians! One thing is for certain, in the month of Tweets that I surveyed, not a single person contact the HPL through their Twitter feed.
Perhaps it should not be surprising then that upon searching the library website and then subjecting it to a thorough Google search just to be sure, I turned up no direct reference to either Facebook or Twitter. There were indirect mentions of the two social networking sites on the HPL’s YRead youth outreach contest.
I discovered a Halifax Public Libraries’ Teens page. The page advertises that they are building a community of writers, readers, and banana-lovers. Yes…banana-lovers…I’m not even going to comment on that. That being said, the Facebook page does show a level of interactivity appropriate for a social networking site. I learned that Danielle is awaiting the third installment of the Chaos Walking series and Lara is involved in the Manga club.
Neither site is advertised on the main library website. I even discovered the Twitter feed rather serendipitously. In the end, I feel no closer to the library patrons or librarians at the HPL. In the end, I wonder if the HPL has relegated social networking to something kids and business professionals do. If this is true, it shows a distinct lack of concerted vision on social media policy. I’m not sure what Reference Rick would say if he stopped making lists long enough to really look.
