Social Network Service and Facebook
Brief communications: Hendrix et al.
Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries
Dean Hendrix, MLIS; Deborah Chiarella, MLS; Linda Hasman, MSLS; Sharon Murphy, MLS, RN; Michelle L. Zafron, MLS
See end of article for authors’ affiliations. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.97.1.008
INTRODUCTION Originally founded to link students at Harvard University, the social networking application, Facebook, has evolved into the most visited social networking site in the world with over 90 million active users. Specializing in regional and scholastic networks, Facebook boasts an 85% market share at universities and colleges in the United States [1], and a recent study of more than 800 University of Florida medical students and residents determined that 44.5% use Facebook [2]. As academic health sciences libraries explore social networking technologies to create and market library services, Facebook provides a flexible space to interface with a large number of students. Homegrown applications for Facebook have been created by libraries to answer reference questions, search online public access catalogs, and host multimedia collections. For health sciences libraries, whose users are often widely dispersed, Facebook offers several opportunities for outreach and instruction. For example, self-organizing groups of users (i.e., medical student class of 2010, pharmaceutical sciences undergraduates) afford targeted marketing opportunities despite their distributed locations (i.e., teaching hospitals, rural clinics, commercial pharmaceutical laboratories). Additionally, Facebook encourages developers to create applications that could be useful in a health sciences setting (i.e., PubMed Search application), form affinity groups (i.e., Medical Library Association Facebook group), and fashion library fan pages.
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J Med Libr Assoc 97(1) January 2009
Brief communications: Hendrix et al.
Despite an abundance of literature about the social networking site Facebook in
Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries
Dean Hendrix, MLIS; Deborah Chiarella, MLS; Linda Hasman, MSLS; Sharon Murphy, MLS, RN; Michelle L. Zafron, MLS
See end of article for authors’ affiliations. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.97.1.008
INTRODUCTION Originally founded to link students at Harvard University, the social networking application, Facebook, has evolved into the most visited social networking site in the world with over 90 million active users. Specializing in regional and scholastic networks, Facebook boasts an 85% market share at universities and colleges in the United States [1], and a recent study of more than 800 University of Florida medical students and residents determined that 44.5% use Facebook [2]. As academic health sciences libraries explore social networking technologies to create and market library services, Facebook provides a flexible space to interface with a large number of students. Homegrown applications for Facebook have been created by libraries to answer reference questions, search online public access catalogs, and host multimedia collections. For health sciences libraries, whose users are often widely dispersed, Facebook offers several opportunities for outreach and instruction. For example, self-organizing groups of users (i.e., medical student class of 2010, pharmaceutical sciences undergraduates) afford targeted marketing opportunities despite their distributed locations (i.e., teaching hospitals, rural clinics, commercial pharmaceutical laboratories). Additionally, Facebook encourages developers to create applications that could be useful in a health sciences setting (i.e., PubMed Search application), form affinity groups (i.e., Medical Library Association Facebook group), and fashion library fan pages.
44
J Med Libr Assoc 97(1) January 2009
Brief communications: Hendrix et al.
Despite an abundance of literature about the social networking site Facebook in
References: 1. Facebook.com. Facebook statistics [Internet]. Palo Alto, CA: Facebook [rev. 2008; cited 5 Aug 2008]. ,http://www .facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics.. 2. Thompson LA, Dawson K, Ferdig R, Black EW, Boyer J, Coutts J, Black NP. The intersection of online social networking with medical professionalism. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Jul;23(7):954–7. 3. Mack D, Behler A, Roberts B, Rimland E. Reaching students with Facebook: data and best practices. Electron J Acad Spec Libr [Internet]. 2007 Summer;8(2) [cited 1 Jul 2008]. ,http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/ content/v08n02/mack_d01.html. 4. Greenwell S, Kraemer B. Internet reviews: social networking software follow-up: Facebook and MySpace (and more). Ky Lib. 2007 Fall;71(4):11–5. 5. Charnigo L, Barnett-Ellis P. Checking out Facebook.com: the impact of a digital trend on academic libraries. Info Tech Lib. 2007 Mar;26(1):23–34. 6. Mathews BS. Do you Facebook?: networking with students online. Coll Res Libr News. 2006 May;67(5):306–7. 7. Chu M, Meulemans YN. The problems and potential of MySpace and Facebook usage in academic libraries. IRSQ. 2008 Spr;13(1):69–85. AUTHORS’ AFFILIATIONS Dean Hendrix, MLIS (corresponding author), dhendrix@ buffalo.edu, Coordinator of Education Services; Deborah Chiarella, MLS, dtc3@buffalo.edu, Reference and Education Services Librarian; Linda Hasman, MSLS, lmhasman@buffalo.edu, Reference and Education Services Librarian; Sharon Murphy, MLS, RN, AHIP, hslscm@buffalo.edu, Reference and Education Services Librarian; Michelle L. Zafron, MLS, mlzafron@ buffalo.edu, Coordinator of Reference Services; Health Sciences Library, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214 Received July 2008; accepted August 2008 J Med Libr Assoc 97(1) January 2009 47