Management of social networks by libraries in the light of their own research

Abstract

This article presents a review of the literature on the management of social networking sites, particularly the mistakes made by libraries in their management (bibliographic and literature analysis methods), and the results of a survey conducted among librarians of different types of libraries on the mistakes made by them and their colleagues in their management (diagnostic survey, statistical method). The main objectives of the authors were to compile a list of principles to guide the management of library services and to isolate those that are most and least followed. Among other things, the survey asked the following questions: 1) Which social networking sites are used by the libraries represented by the respondents? 2) What are the most and least common social networking mistakes made by library social account managers and administrators? 3) How do respondents rate their knowledge and skills in running social net working sites? 4) How do respondents rate the knowledge and skills of service administrators in their libraries? The survey questionnaire was addressed to a community of active librarians working in different types of book libraries and 124 correctly completed questionnaires were received, the data from which formed the basis of the conclusions. Key findings from the research: The most common library social networks represented by respondents are Facebook and Instagram; less than 50%: YouTube, Twitter, TikTok. In terms of librarians’ self-assessment of their knowledge and skills in running social networks, Facebook is the best, Twitter/X and TikTok the worst. Librarians also rated the service administrators in their libraries on their knowledge and skills in service administration: around 4% of respondents gave an inadequate rating, while 30% gave an excellent or very good rating. The most common errors in service management included the lack of QR codes in the library to facilitate quick access to the service, lack of targeting, and lack of or inappropriate development of hashtags. Respondents rated as very important or important the respect of copyright, the regularity of publications and the consideration of users’ needs, and as not important or not very important: the organisation of competitions in the services, the placement of the CTA button and the placement of QR codes in the library space.