Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Twitter and Libraries

Twitter for libraries serves a number of purposes, spreading the word about library events, building a relationship with borrowers, and not least, gathering support when needed.

When a proposed $37 million City budget cut threatened some of the New York Public Library's branch libraries with closure, or having them open only 3 days a week, they were able to get support from their over 51 000 followers. While I'm sure they were using more than just Twitter to fight this, there is no doubt that it helped get the word out. The tweet to thank their supporters:

Thank you to everyone who stood with us to #savenypl http://ow.ly/24JYK about 13 hours ago
They also promote themselves:

Cool off with a good book at the Library. Visit one of our locations:http://ow.ly/2484Q #libraries

Q: Is it true that New York City used to be called the Big Onion? A: Hoboes called it that a century before the Big Apple was used.#AskNYPL

Twitter is free, easy to use, and is another way to help us connect with our borrowers. Technology is here to stay and we should welcome the opportunities it provides and make the most them.

Twitter is an ongoing conversation and I usually tweet what book I'm reading, sometimes I read more than one at once, so...
Also Reading A Spring without Bees - Michael Schacker. Very interesting book.


For those of you with too much going on in your lives a bit of zen for you.

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