100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library

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100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library
Twitter is a free social networking and communication tool that lets
you send short messages of up to 140 characters to your group of
friends via the Twitter website, SMS, other Twitter clients, email, or
IM. An increasing number of libraries and librarians are now using
Twitter to engage readers, spread information, and banish the
conception of dark, silent buildings staffed by stuffy introverts. So
if you want to see how Twitter can be a dynamic way to connect with
patrons, students and other library professionals, then the list below
should definitely get you started. Here are 100 tips that can help you
effectively use Twitter in your libraries.

Reference

With many online tools, the reference sections of many libraries have
been overlooked. These tips can help make connections with patrons
which can lead to a more visited reference section.

1. Read the latest news: Many major news sites, like MSNBC have
Twitter feeds. This makes it easy to quickly check up on news and find
the latest information.

2. Identify experts in a specific area: Find out who’s talking about
subjects that interest you or your patrons. You can’t get the same
affect by using traditional email and resources.

3. Find out what other schools and libraries are doing around the
world: Get ideas on how other libraries all over the globe are using
Twitter effectively in their library.

4. Share a tip on finding or accessing information online or in the
building: Spread the knowledge of your learning with others. If you’ve
found a website that has specific resources or data, send a tweet and
let everyone know.

5. Posts can link to interesting news stories about literacy or about
libraries. When appropriate, the posts can link to a library’s own
website and blog for more in-depth information.

6. Use Twitter as an assessment tool: For example, subscribe to a
handful of patrons or students, in return they should follow you also.
By tweeting, you can learn about such things as what services are
being used the most in the library.

7. Find contacts working on similar projects. Stumped about a
presentation or project you are working on? Twitter is a great way to
find others that have had a similar problem and get a swift response.

8. Patrons can ask questions about specific materials. Let your
patrons know if you have a certain book or article they are looking
for or let them know where they can find it. This also will keep up
the community feeling that your library is looking for.

9. Search Twitter for references to the ALA (American Library
Association): If it’s something there you can respond to then go
ahead. If it’s not something in your area, then pass along the
information.

Discussion

Use these tips to create communication as well as a feeling of
community at your library.

10. Try having a question and answer session: If you need information
of any kind a quick question to followers will get you and answer in
minutes. It is also an easy way to provide assistance to patrons.

11. Get feedback on potential policy changes: Thinking about extending
library hours? Get some opinions from some of your patrons. This is
great for college library students too.

12. Don’t let the account go silent for extended periods: This will
show that you have mutual interest in providing a connection for many
of your followers.

13. Find Trends: What are people talking about right now? Now and
again a discussion does come up that you might want to know more about
in detail.

14. Don’t simply post information without also replying to people who
send you messages in the system: Although conversational Twittering
has not yet been mainstream amongst the libraries, it is common for
other institutions on the service to interact with followers.

15. Be sure to use the current twitter terminology: Remember the verb
form is “to tweet,” not “to twitter.” If you use the wrong terms, you
might as well put a sign on your website that says ROOKIE!

16. Search Twitter daily for mention of the library: Using both
Twitter Search and the Find People function on the main Twitter site,
which actually will find institutions as well as individuals.

17. Try not to overwhelm people with too many posts: While you do want
to post daily, too many tweets can be too much for patrons or
students. Especially when they are trying to get work done.

18. Don’t ignore the conversations that are happening about your
library or your community: Stay engaged with followers. This will let
you know what people are saying about your library.

Announcements & Updates

Highlight new materials, group meetings, current news, and more with
some of these suggestions.

19. Get information on conferences: Some conferences of interest to
librarians have Twitter feeds that will allow you to keep up with
registration deadlines, speakers and accommodations without having to
visit the site itself.

20. Keep up to date with internal developments: Stay on top of
department meetings and events. You will always know what’s going on.

21. Update patrons on new materials: Have you received some great new
resources? Let those in your area know about them through a Twitter
feed.

22. Stay informed of the most current technologies: Keep yourself
updated on new tools and applications that can productively be used in
the library.

23. Get the word out about library programs: Starting a new program or
having a book sale? Let the public and students know about it through
your Twitter feed. It’s an easy way to get information out about any
library.

24. Send alerts about requested materials: Patrons can choose to get
notices that their materials have arrived at the library via Twitter
rather than phone or mail. Some people might prefer this to the
traditional message.

25. Create alerts for specific groups: Announce news and events for
specific groups like children, book clubs, and teens

26. Use Twitter to point out highlights on library websites: Point
out specific topics of interest on your website. Everything from
special links to holiday hours.

27. Short messages can tell people about events such as readings and
lectures: Typing a brief message about a special reading or lecture
can help get the word out. You can even send updates the day of to let
people know how many are attending.

28. Send computer alerts: Whether someone’s allotted time on the
computer is about to end or if several computers have suddenly become
available, let users know

Helpful Feeds

Here are some interesting feeds that can help you find out how other
libraries might be using Twitter.

29. @librarycongress: The Library of Congress is one of the largest
libraries in the world, keep up with everything from their special
collections to latest events.

30. @yalsa: The Young Adult Library Services Association keeps this
feel to help keep you informed about issues pertaining to young adult
reading and literature.

31. @glambert: Greg Lambert is a law librarian in Houston. This law
librarian discusses knowledge management, social media, and more.

32. @pfanderson: This is from a new technologies librarian interested
in informatics, search engines, Web 2.0 and more.

33. @SAGElibrarynews: Get a view on publishing in academic,
educational, and professional markets.

34. @Librarian: This feed will give you a look at libraries in a
totally unique way.

35. @sljournal: The School Library Journal will tell you about news
and book reviews for children’s and young adult reading material.

36. @mstephens7: Michael Stephens is an educator, librarian, and
blogger that encourages his followers to never stop learning or
dreaming

37. @heyjudeonline: Check out Judy O’Connell to learn about library
and information services.

38. @LibraryJournal: @LibraryJournal offers library news, book
reviews, and more.

39. @LJBookReview: From @LJBookReview, you’ll find book news and book
reviews from Library Journal.

40. @kenleyneufield: You can learn about the social web from this
community college librarian.

41. @geeklibrarian: This Librarian is a geek helping public
librarians venture into the world of Web 2.0.

42. @alalibraryval: Valerie Hawkins is the Library Reference
Specialist at the American Library Association.

43. @TheLibraryCat: Learn more about academic libraries, photography
and searching through archives

44. @AtYourLibrary: At Your Library is the ALA’s public awareness
campaign to promote the value of libraries.

45. @ala_rusa: @alarusa represents the Reference and User Services
Association of the American Library Association.

46. @GlobalLib: Shares global and international library information
for librarians around the world.

47. @Internet_Archive: The Internet Archive is an Internet library
with permanent access to historical collections in digital format.

48. @AccessMyLibrary: Advocates for increasing discoverability of
library content on the web.

Colleagues, Students, and Friends

Stay connected with other librarian, friends, and students with the
tips below.

49. Learn more about colleagues: See if fellow colleagues have a
Twitter feed and read more about their life. Who knows, maybe you have
more in common than you think.

50. Link to interesting news stories: Get some inspirational ideas
from reading interesting stories about literacy and other libraries.

51. Promote the library: Using Twitter can help promote your library
and the programs offered. Tweet your friends and family about what’s
happening.

52. Decide whether to include an employee’s name on the account:
library users want to know who’s behind the Twitter account. The bio
field has 160 characters available, and libraries should take
advantage of the opportunity to explain their mission and highlight
people.

53. Chronicle extended library visits: This has been being used by a
number of university libraries. A student might arrive at the library
at 4 p.m. and might not leave until 10 a.m. the next day. He sends
updates to his readers periodically on the progress of his
assignment.

54. Keep in touch with librarian friends: Find out what other schools
and libraries are doing around the world. Twitter makes it easier to
keep up with what others are up to and to share and collaborate on
projects.

Library Twitter Tools that Could be Useful

Here are some tools that can be useful if you are going to try some of
the above tips.

55. TweetDeck: This application will let you create groups of Tweets
to better manage your information systems.

56. Twrivia: Provide a new trivia question each day for your patrons
with this tool.

57. GroupTweet: Create groups to facilitate Tweeting. This is a great
tool for specialty groups such as young adults, book clubs, or library
employees.

58. Atlas: Explore the world with Tweets that are shown on a map. You
can also search nearby places in that geographic area.

59. bit.ly: With only 140 characters to use, this service shortens
URLs so that you use fewer characters when sharing web links.

60.Outwit Me: This site offers challenging games and is a great way to
introduce Twitter into the library for the younger crowd.

61. tweetparty: This tool creates Twitter groups and allows you to
communicate directly with them.

62. TweetScan: Use this as a Twitter research shortcut. Type in
keywords and have Tweets that match your keywords emailed to you.

63. TweetGrid: Make Twitter searches much easier. This application
allows you to create a customized search dashboard.

64. Tweetree: This tool puts your Tweets in context so when an entire
conversation starts, everything is grouped together. This makes it a
lot easier to keep track of whose talking.

65. TwitterFone: Call and leave a voice message that with this tool.
It will later be turned into a tweet.

66. Tweet Later: Write Tweets that you can schedule to posting at
later dates. This is a great way to line up reminders that are tied to
specific dates.

67. weather: Get weather news and weather events occurring around the
world from the Science News Blog.

68. Tweetizen: Find specific groups on Twitter that share your same
interests or start up your own group.

69. Password protected text notes: If privacy is an issue, you can use
this tool to send notes to Twitter that only those with the password
can read.

70. TweetScan: Type in keywords and have Tweets that match your
keywords emailed to you. Use this as a Twitter research shortcut.

71. Twishlistter: You can let patrons know what your library might be
needing by creating a Twitter wish list.

72. QuoteURL: Put many different Tweets together on one page with this
application. Libraries with several different Twitter groups should
find this tool very helpful.

73. Plinky: Every day this application provides a prompt in the form
of a challenge or question, then you can reply by text, maps, photos
or whatever you can use to answer.

74. twiggit: This tool combines Digg with Twitter and lets you find
reference answers, news articles, and more.

75. TwitPic: Let others see your photos with this application. Share
them with fellow employees, patrons, and colleagues.

Vendors Using Twitter

More and more library vendors are joining Twitter. Many librarians are
now able to interact with their vendors in a different way. Whether
for asking a question regarding an order or finding out about other
services offered you weren’t even aware of. Here is a list of some of
the major vendors we have found that have hopped on board the Twitter
wagon.

76. Academic Earth: A collaboration of video lectures from the world’s
top scholars. They also provide full video courses from leading
universities.

77. Duke Press: The Press publishes primarily in the humanities and
social sciences and issues a few publications for professionals such
as doctors and lawyers.

78. Credo Reference: A leading provider of reference services for
libraries and information centers.

79. Flashlight Worthy Books: A fun website dedicated completely to
book lists. Books are grouped by all sorts of categories

80. Better World Books: Fund literacy, care for the environment, and
get a fair price on the books you want.

81. High Wire Press: A division of the Stanford University Libraries,
which produces the online versions of high-impact, peer-reviewed
journals and other scholarly content.

82. Library Thing: Catalog your books from Amazon, the Library of
Congress and 690 other world libraries. Import from anywhere.

83. EBSCO Publishing: A search platform for full-text online research
databases used by libraries all over the world.

84. McGraw-Hill: An Information and Media group that provide industry
leading intelligence analytical solutions that enable libraries to
make better decisions.

85. Refworks: A Bibliographic management online program that allows
users to create a personal database of references and generate
bibliographies in a variety of formats.

86. Safari Books: Provides access to thousands of technology, creative
and business books, and training videos through an on-demand, digital
library.

87. Library Juice Press: Sponsored by Litwin Books, LLC, this vendor
specializes in theoretical and practical issues in librarianship from
a critical perspective.

88. Thomson Reuters: Get solutions for your library focusing on
productivity. Overviews of sectors in media and science are provided.

89. School Library Journal: The largest review source for books,
multimedia and technology for children and teens. They also provide
the hottest technology news.

90. W.S. Hein: This vendor has been serving the library community for
over 80 years as a legal publisher, reprinter, and subscription
agent.

91. Science Direct: A source of facts for scientific, technical, and
medical research. A subscription is required for some sections.

92. Lippincott: International publishers of professional health
information for physicians, nurses, specialized clinicians & students.
They provide charts and journals for nurses and medical purposes.

93. Taylor & Francis: One of the leading academic publisher for the
past two decades. They publish over a thousand journals and book each
year.

94. Wolters Kluwer: Using the latest technologies, quality
information, and cutting-edge tools, this company will give you
solutions and help libraries make effective decisions.

95. Portland Press Ltd: A major provider of high quality publishing
for the spreading of knowledge throughout the librarian community.

96. JSTOR: This vendor works with the scholarly community to preserve
the materials they rely upon, and build a common research platform
that promotes the discovery and use of these resources.

97. CRC Press: Publishers of technical and scientific work, reaching
around the globe to make the latest references and advances available
to researchers, academic professionals, and students.

98. AveryIndex: Offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles
published worldwide on architecture and design, and archaeology.

99. Westlaw: An online legal research service for legal and law
related resources. This includes searches of both United States and
international legal materials.

100. Lexis-Nexis Academics: Make your information sources manageable
with this vendor. They provide research and reference answers to
libraries worldwide.

Libraries have only begun to find the true potential in Twittering. We
hope that by using some of these tips, librarians and libraries
everywhere will find creative ways to broaden the serviceability for
themselves and their patrons.