Social media, libraries and future of print

I'm sure this topic that has been done to death, just another rambling post about social media and libraries right? Probably, as I am quite capable of rambling, but it is something I'd like to write about and explore.

I'm not in any way an expert on social media, nor do I work in a public library, but I do realize the importance of library staff being able to understand and use social media to their advantage. Even from a law library point of view, we have to keep up with the quickly changing trends. Lawyers may  sometimes be seen as the old fogeys who don't adapt, but from what I've seen they are already way ahead of most of us, technology wise.

Although many people don't see it this way, libraries and their staff are the managers of our information and have to constantly update their knowledge on information management. This includes being able to keep the public informed on new media because of our role as teachers to our patrons. 

The most common use of social media in libraries, that I've found, is the use of Facebook. It's basically a ubiquitous tool. If libraries want an online presence (other than their website) that can reach more people, they have to use it. Consider the fact that even though most people say they hate Facebook, they still use it on a daily basis. It's a free service that anyone can learn to use, relatively speaking.

We have to start thinking about information differently, it's no longer static information on a piece of paper in the library. Information is dynamic, flexible and should meet the user's needs. I have always been a little iffy on the future of print material, mainly in the sense that I used to think print would be around forever and always argued with people that said books would be dead soon. I think, for historical purposes, print will be around a while longer because we do need primary sources for research. On the other hand, fiction and textbooks could have a vastly greater impact if they were more online and available to a wider audience.

To backtrack, I said library staff should keep up with current trends in social media. Guy's, I have been a bad library technician. I use Facebook, if only to keep in contact with old friends, but I haven't kept up with other social media websites. In the next few weeks I am challenging myself to learn more about these websites and technologies, and will be posting my thoughts about them. Hopefully some of you will find it interesting.