The VPL has just announced a contest for Foursquare players. Whoever is the mayor of the VPL main branch on Friday, December 11th at 5 PM will be rewarded by having three reviews published on the library home page later this month.

Now 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 user who checks into a location the most often in a 60-day period becomes the “mayor” of that location. It’s a competitive honour and one that can easily be won or lost. From the VPL’s perspective, this encourages more “players” to physically come to the library space and duke it out.

The VPL even got the idea off of one of its Twitter followers, Dave Burrows. And the idea seems to have become quite popular if all the reposts over Twitter are a measure of success.

So the next time you walk through the stacks at the VPL, just remember that there’s a war going on. The Foursquare war. And I’m a contender.

The first point that jumps out at me is that most, but not all, libraries have low discussion rates on their profiles. This seems to be quite contrary to the social networking angle of the sites. Instead, librarians more often take on the role of producing content themselves. This often takes the shape of an online notice board advertising news and events at the library, but it can also advertise new services and information packages put together at the library. The latter often seem to get higher response rates, although the former are more likely, in the case of Twitter, to be reposted.

Most public library profiles seem to lack some personal characterization. By characterization, I don’t mean brand awareness, something all the libraries have done quite well, but rather a personable way of communicating. I am not recommending that individual librarians should be outed; there are simply too many privacy concerns for that to be practical. But the Edmonton Public Library has a created a distinct voice that seems to resonate with its online users and this is reflected in a noticeably higher response rate their online posts. The negative side of personal characterization could be the Halifax Public Libraries, which have an idosyncratic Twitter feed that seems to serve more as a social bookmarking site for the librarian in charge and does not add value to the library in general.

Half of Canadian libraries failed to adequately advertise their online social networking profiles on their library homepage. This raised the concern that these libraries are not taking social media seriously or, worse still, lack an inclusive vision of their patrons online. The public library is a publicly-funded institution and should help advertise and promote all of its services to the public. Indeed, there is a distinct opportunity for educating the public in new online services here.

Many libraries seem to lack a coherent vision for their social media use. Facebook pages are sometimes eschewed in favour of Twitter feeds (e.g. Vancouver Public Library). Sometimes applications added to Facebook pages are abandoned or poorly maintained (e.g. Toronto Public Library’s calendar feed). While I appreciate that it can be hard to maintain multiple online profiles, a better strategy would be to synchronize both pages to take advantage of their distinct affordances. Here I nod my head to Thunder Bay Public Library and the Bibliothèques de Montréal for their concerted cross-posting and the audio-visual use of Facebook. If a library truly wants to focus on a single social network like Twitter, they should take care to delete their lesser or poorly maintained profile lest their patrons believe that it is a true reflection of their social network.

A current SLAIS MLIS student, Daniel Hooker, has just released a paper entitled “Social media adoption, policy and development: exploring the way forward for academic libraries”, which is well worth a read. I note in particular the proposed policy sections for social networking sites.

Public library systems need to create a coherent vision for their online identities. That includes owning and protecting their online image (crack down on those student assistants, Thunder Bay!) and working in concert to promote a value-based social network.

Social networking is something that public libraries should take seriously. The benefits of a good social networking profile are increased public awareness, greater access to and use of library resources, and greater public goodwill towards the library. Don’t just be a public library, be a community library.

This has been my intermezzo con crescendo. Now back to the main musical score.

I have to admit that the Montréalais do everything with style and that includes social networking. Their Facebook page has more bells and whistles than I even thought possible! The left-hand column has news feeds leading back to their Delicious account, to a Social RSS reader, and to their Flickr account. There’s also a Bookshare application that’s currently reading Emmanuelle Hodart’s L’Abécédaire de la colère (translation: An Alphabet Book of Anger). Finally, a culture that takes their children seriously. Yes…I’m remembering you, Halifax Public Library, and your bananas.

The Twitter feed, however, perhaps best represents the RBPM’s mastery of the social network. They have five times as many followers on Twitter than on Facebook. But even more impressive is that the library is following even more people! The RBPM is following 1,776 people. Now that’s prolific! If there was ever a library that I felt truly had a grasp on their client-base, it would be Montréal.

Their Facebook and Twitter posts mimic one another to a large degree, although the Facebook account is updated less frequently and focuses more upon the library calendar. The Twitter feed covers the diverse topics of social media from their local perspective, French Canadian archival and historical sources, French authors in the news, and a wide array of cultural affairs that would interest the inhabitants of Montréal. A quick glance at the way people reposted and retweeted the RBPM tweets revealed that they touched all sorts of areas in their local community. So much so that I couldn’t really disentangle the RBPM tweets into their own distinct category, nor am I even sure why I tried.

The Réseau des Bibliothèques publiques de Montréal has more than created a social place online, they have taken their place in the greater espace social of Montréal. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Let me start off by saying that the Thunder Bay reading the Thunder Bay Public Library tweet feed is like being invited into a relative’s parlour. There’s discussion about re-carpeting and pictures to boot (there are a list of such renovations in case you think it was an isolated post, including the toilets and the circulation desk). There are other notices about library events (puppet show!) and advertising library books related to current events such as Giller-prize award winner. But the feeling that I’m in a parlour probable stems mostly from the acoustic guitar and song-writing posted to their Twitter feed from their YouTube channel.

After that musical interlude, I’m sure you’ll quite agree with me!

Of course, I had to look at the library home page to see what other social networking sites they belonged too. The Twitter and Facebook listings were not prominent at all on the library website, instead residing at the very bottom of a long subsidiary Contact Us page. They also list three blogs, their YouTube channel and a rather unused Delicious bookmarking account.

Their Facebook page is something of a media aggregator. It has everything that the Twitter feed has with the addition of the aforementioned pictures. The calendar is up to date and handy for library patrons on Facebook. Perhaps I’ve looked at too many Facebook pages already in the course of this blog, but the pages feel like they lack content and inspiration. Perhaps they should channel the energy from their student helpers away from their own Facebook page about strange things seen in the library (mostly men’s parts and mail-order bride forms), before they get themselves into trouble.

Does Thunder Bay Public Library bring the social network thunder? Not really. But they do manage to perfect the art stick-figure storytelling. And that just leaves me speechless.

At first glance, the Toronto Public Library Twitter feed is everything it should be. Events are advertised (General Hillier actually made it to Toronto). News stories about the library are publicized. New services are announced and the occasional question is even answered. But as I looked at the 1300+ followers of the Toronto Public Library feed I wondered why there weren’t more questions or even just discussion. Was it the officious tone? When I did a search on Twitter for any mention of the Toronto Library, the focus became clearer. The Toronto Library Feed is not a social networker at all! It’s a content producer. It’s tweets are copied, retweeted, sent out, disseminated, what have you, all over the internet (or at least the patch of the internet that shades Toronto).

The TPL clearly has some sort of official vision for their library and that’s a good thing. Both their Facebook and Twitter pages are listed prominently on the library home page. So is their YouTube channel for that matter, but that’s for another day.

The TPL Facebook page is a bit of a reflection of their Twitter page, often with the exact same phrasing. It’s a bit of a shame that they don’t take advantage more of it’s more visual elements. The TPL has embedded the occasional video or photo of a book cover, but remarkably few. The Facebook page is again starkly lacking user comments. Many wall posts have tacit “likes,” but no real discussion. It’s like there’s a librarian shushing all possible conversation. The TPL tweets got to live on a life after publication, but all of the TPL’s Facebook posts sit on the shelves. They could do so much more and there are signs that they once did and may yet again. There’s an event calendar that looks very poorly tended too, identifying only six events in the last month. The Facebook wall clearly tells us there were many more. They’ve posted six videos, but they could be doing a much more exciting job of publicizing their YouTube channel in Facebook where entire videos can be embedded.

Perhaps most puzzling were the three items that the Toronto Public Library Facebook profile advertises that it is a fan of. These were: Public Libraries, the RSS Reader, and BBC’s show The Tudors. The first two were cute. The last, well, I know the Tudors has won many awards, but why exactly is it appropriate for a library to be a fan of that show and no other? I think it’s great that someone did take an interest in spreading their likes, but as with many things on the Toronto social networking sites, it appears to have been abandoned for more serious business.

The TPL makes serious use of its networking sites. So much so, that social has fallen off the wagon some time back. As one of the largest library systems in North America, they could do much more. But perhaps as the Series 2 byline for the Toronto Library’s favourite TV show sums up, it’s good to be king. Just don’t expect to have a conversation with him.

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.

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.

The Vancouver Public Library (VPL) uninvited me on my Facebook profile. This notice showed up in my news feed right between Jessica’s rant on 19th century women’s medicine in India and a video of a surprised kitten. Neither of these things made the notice more noteworthy. The post in and of itself was noteworthy because the VPL only sends on average three status updates a month so I always notice them when they arrive. I dutifully went to their Facebook page and looked to see if I had overlooked the invitation. In the past two months, I had been invited to three events: a workshop on intergenerational writing, a panel of speakers on the Olympic Games, and a presentation of stories by Coast Salish writers….but no talk by General Hillier!

This got me to thinking, what exactly was this page for. Is the VPL one of those people on Facebook who just collects friends? Possibly, but then why do they announce some events and not others. Are they worried about overwhelming us with all the events that they hold. Clearly, they haven’t met my friend Jerry with his incessant quizzes and Farmville. I’ve learned to cope with a wealth of status updates and I’m pretty sure I could handle more from the VPL. So why isn’t the VPL talking to me on Facebook?

Are they somewhere else? Undoubtedly on their homepage, but I wanted to see where else the VPL was talking. Looking about furtively, I finally found them on Twitter. Unlike their Facebook page, the VPL Twitter feed is replete with news, fun facts, answers to questions I didn’t think to ask, and even a job notice. Looking down to October 28th, I found the invitation to General Hillier’s talk.

Clearly Twitter is where the VPL truly networks. So why do they have a Facebook page at all? Or why don’t they make better use of it? There’s no mention of it on their website. They’ve done a better job advertising their Twitter feed insofar as they did once announce it on their news page, but I had to use Google to find that out. Indeed, there’s no mention of Twitter on their home page or anywhere in their current news page, presumably since the account’s been around for quite some time.

This raises some serious questions. Why aren’t they advertising these services if they are spending time updating them? And why are they maintaining a page that they really don’t use? The former applies to the Twitter feed. It looks like a great service, but I would hardly have discovered it if I hadn’t gone looking. And the Facebook page is underused. They could delete it or let it die one of those slow internet deaths. But perhaps they should take advantage of one of many services for cross-posting to both. I may be in a long-standing argument with my friend Mike about leaving his dirty Twitter hashtags on my Facebook newsfeed, but that’s something that’s easily fixed and not even applicable to the sort of Tweets that the VPL is sending out. The VPL need not feel fragmented between different on-line profiles; they can still get their message out to both.

I should be more appreciative of the fact that the VPL tried to notify me that an event was canceled period. After all, I may have heard about it from other sources, perhaps even Twitter, and been intending to go.

Meanwhile, the moral of the story for me was that sometimes you have to be cordially uninvited to find out you were invited in the first place.