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Hi all

In January I contacted the list asking about the use of Facebook by libraries - 
many thanks for all your responses.

It seems that a number of universities have Facebook pages - I got responses 
from 8, though I think there are many more out there. A search for libray or 
libraries on Facebook brings up a wide variety of pages.

I had 3 responses to say that they had discussed having a page but decided 
against it. Reasons including: the type of students at the institution, not 
wating to encourae Facebook use as it distracts from work and not invading 
students' social space, beautifully put as a bit like your dad dancing at the 
disco! However, those libraries that do have pages seem to have attracted a 
lot of members.

Those Universities that are using Facebook have links to websites, general 
information, RSS feeds, search facilities for services such as COPAC, photos, 
videos etc. Some allow students to make comments, others don't.

Nobody who replied to me seemed to think it was particularly time consuming 
to either set up or to keep up-to-date.

Katherine Widdows from Warwick let me know about an article she has written 
for the latest edition of ALISS Quarterly - "In Your Facebook, Not in Your 
Face", which has been very useful.

I hope this helps out any other people out there thinking of setting up a 
Facebook page - it has certainly given us much food for thought!

Yvonne Cotton
Senior Information Officer, Business
Library & Information Services
Univesrity of Teesside
Middlesbrough
TS1 3BA