Facebook Ease
This was a totally new adventure for me, but I created my Facebook account with ease. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to read lots of text to get my profile up, add applications, and search for friends. After browsing the apps I decided WorldCat, Books iRead, and Zoho Office were choices my library patrons would make use of.
I was really disappointed that I had to have an email associated with certain networks in order to join them. I don’t use SJSU email, so I’m excluded from that network. I didn’t dare use my work email either (MySpace & Facebook are still taboo in the K-12 world), but was able to locate a few previous co-workers by entering different school district names into the search box – they were not using their work email either, but had entered the employer information. I located some students in my current school district but found no faculty or staff members. These pages were not inappropriate from what I could see, but of course, I couldn’t view them in their entirety.
I can see why Facebook would be popular at University campuses because of similar interests, but I found it interesting that Ann Arbor public libraries have so many MySpace friends. Their presence definitely seems to be appreciated by their patrons. It’s nice that they’ve been able to connect to such a broad group of people.
I don’t think Facebook or MySpace are going to be welcome in K-12 libraries anytime in the foreseeable future (I know teens and tweens have personal accounts, but they are not affiliated with the school or district & use is blocked/banned on campus).
