College library leads national social media study

Perth College UHI Library is leading a national research project to explore the use of social media by further and higher education libraries and public libraries.

The aim of the study is to create a snapshot of social media use in library services across Scotland.  The study will collate statistical information and qualitative feedback on various aspects of social media use, including policy, procedure, benefits, challenges, costs and advice for those new to social media.

The year-long study is supported by a £2,000 award from the Innovation and Development Fund (IDF), which is administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of the Scottish Government.  The IDF is open to libraries at further and higher education institutions and specialist libraries.

Kathleen Connor, Library Team Leader at Perth College UHI Library said: “Library services across all sectors are using social media to varying degrees, using different platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, for different purposes, including information sharing and service promotion.

Through this study, we hope to identify successful approaches and best practice that will be used to share knowledge and skills across the library sector.  Our findings will also be used to encourage more library services and staff to use social media to take advantage of the benefits to the service and to improve their skillset.”

Pamela Tulloch, chief executive, SLIC said: “A core part of our work involves supporting creativity and innovation within libraries to ensure services adapt to the changing needs of users in the 21^st century.  We selected this project for funding because it will provide a valuable evidence base for social media good practice across the sector, benefiting all library services.  Libraries are increasingly using digital technology to improve their service for users and the findings of this study will help improve knowledge and understanding of the opportunities, inspiring services to do more or to introduce social media at services who are not currently using it.”