LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Spring 2010)

I was impressed with the Brooklyn Public Library’s blog that we looked at in Week 3. I saw they had a Twitter account and thought they would probably have an interesting online presence.

Brooklyn Public Library, an independent system with 60 branches, serves its boroughs 2.5 million residents. According to the library’s mission statement it strives to be a “vital center of knowledge for all, accessible 24 hours a day,” and “to be a leader in traditional and innovative library services which reflect the diverse and dynamic spirits of the people of Brooklyn.” The central library recently opened the Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture, an 189-seat auditorium is a home to numerous events.

The library’s website has a clean modern design. An area called “Socialize” is featured prominently on the home page. This links to a page dedicated to the library’s online and social media resources. The "Socialize" page is broken down into five categories: Blogs, Social Networks, Multimedia, Mobile Website, and Subscriptions.

Blogs

The library has three blogs. No Shush Zone is the official library blog with new posts appearing once or twice a week. The blog is a mixture of library news, tips and event announcements. Six librarians contribute and new posts appear several times a week.

Brooklynology is the Brooklyn Collection’s blog. Here the library’s local history division highlights “history, curiosities, and other treasures from their archives”. Postings appear several times a week and often feature photographs and stories from the library’s online collection of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Brooklyn Book Talk is blog facilitated by library staff and is a place to discuss literature and philosophy. This is a sophisticated book club with several librarians contributing books to discuss. New book selections appear once or twice a month.

Social Networks

Facebook

The library’s Facebook page appears to be active with 3,600 fans. An average of two announcements appear each day with people frequently commenting. Updates include closures due to weather, announcements of events and services, and links to catalogs searches and the library event calendar. There is even a link to Brooklyn’s own band of wild librarians, Lost in the Stacks (they also have a myspace page).

Twitter

The Brooklyn Public Library is on twitter at brooklynpublic. They have 1,235 followers. Tweets are similar to information on Facebook but are updated more frequently, a few times a day. The library uses Twitpic to highlight events such as a visit from Cookie monster.

While not found on the “Socialize” page, the Brooklyn Collection is also on Twitter at Brooklynology. This appears to be a new Twitter account and may be why it is not featured more prominently.

Delicious

The library shares it bookmarks on delicious. The top tags are nyc.gov, blogs, bpl, culture and history.

MySpace

The library also has a MySpace for teens. This page was not listed with the rest of the social networking sites but is found on the teen page. The library has 561 friends but they appear to mostly authors. The library does use this page to highlight special teen events and links to a video explaining how to use library’s catalog.

Multimedia

YouTube

The library's you tube channel contains author talks, videos created by the library staff, and performances at the Dweck Center. Most videos date from a year ago.

Flickr

There are Flickr pages for both Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and the Brooklyn Collection. The library invites patron to join their group and tag them “brooklynpublic”. The Flickr group has 20 members. The historic photos featured at the Brooklyn Collection have more views than the public group.

BPL Mobile Website (beta)

Library lets patrons know they can access their site from iPhones or Blackberrys.

Subscriptions

The library list 5 feeds on its “Socialize” page: the feeds for its three blogs plus a Featured Events Feeds, and Booklist RSS Subscription Page.

At the bottom of the library’s homepage also contains a link to a RSS feed page that explains briefly, what an RSS feed. Along with links to the blogs’ feeds are feeds for branch information. There are also five feeds for library events including feeds for adult, teen, and kid events. There is a feed for all audience events and for featured upcoming events.

Email

The library also had two monthly email letters, one about the library’s resources and recommended books and the other email discusses events and exhibits

The library has a special book club where you receive a 5-minute selection of a book by email.

Branding

The library has a strong brand. I think it started with a clear well organized website. The library has a strong vision and its mission appears consistently on Facebook, Twitter, and in its blogs. One example of this is seen its approach to a major fund raising effort. The campaign is called" Support our Shelves" and the information (and eye-catching logo) are found throughout the library’s online presence. The library’s home page has a link to detailed information about the fund raising. The homepage also has a box where patrons can enter their cell phone numbers and donate $10. The library’s facebook page also contains this donation box and their Twitter background is the “Support out Shelves” logo.

Suggestions

The Brooklyn Public Library has an impressive array of blogs, RSS feeds, email newsletters and book clubs. It has made an effort to be visible in all the social networking sites. It is easy to navigate these areas in part because the library has made many connections betweens these resources. I think that the most successful areas are its Twitter and Facebook accounts and its blogs These areas seem lively and are updated regularly. The blogs give patrons a sense of what the library is about and some are tailored for a specific type of patron. The Twitter account has a nice blend of news, event reminders, and library tips. The Twitter account also helps to draw attention to the library’s blogs. I think one area of improvement would be to feature more photos and videos. The library seems to be an exciting place yet its Flickr and YouTube sights are rather dull. These could be areas for growth. If the library determines that people are not going to Flickr and YouTube, it may want to consider add more photos and videos to its Facebook page.   I was impressed that it had bookmarks on Delicious and wondered how many other libraries have done this.

The Brooklyn Library serves a very diverse group of people and I think its attempt to be present in a variety of online places is a good way to reach them.  They seem to successfully communicate their events and resources consistently across different platforms.  They have also attempted to tailor the information for specific groups such as teens, kids, adults, literature and history buffs.