Once upon a time libraries were a social hub. Clubs met there and classes were given. Skinny kids sought books on weight lifting...or boxing...or any trendy intimidation factor. Families read books together (many from their library) instead of watching TV. Kids came in for story time. Seniors brought their morning coffee to chat and read the paper. Couples sometimes even found dark, private corners to nuzzle in. It may have been a quieter hub than some of the others, but it was a hub, none the less. So I pose a question. Are they still a social hub?
In an age where society feels the need to cram so much more into their lives, is there a place for the library?
Once upon a time the library was the smart, friendly, girl that everyone wanted to get to know despite the fact that she was a bit shy. That same smart, friendly, shy girl (hereafter known as SFS Girl) is still there, but she's come to realize that if she wants to have a social life, she needs to put herself out there. With the tools at her disposal, she is moulding herself into Chatty Cathy (without the creepy, haunted doll factor) and becoming a social hub once again. What are the tools? Social Bookmarking, Social Cataloguing and Social Networking.
You have to have spent the last 5 years on a remote mountaintop to not have some idea of what social networking is, but just in case that's you (welcome back, by the way) here's a brief summary. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others help people to, "...communicate informally with other users, or find people with similar interests to oneself." (Wikipedia) People, companies, clubs, organizations or (pause for effect) libraries can easily put together their own little page that others can link to and voila! A channel is opened. A conversation is started. This is like our SFS Girl introducing herself to new people and having a chat.
I dare you to find a public library's website that does not have a link to a social network. (Brandon Public Library's already taken - I found that one.) There are some out there but they are few and far between. Libraries usually use social media to advertise themselves to their patrons; upcoming events, quizzes, clubs, job postings, contests, book recommendations, or links to their blog. The Winnipeg Public Library has a pretty active one, but libraries have to be careful to strike a balance. When someone "Likes" an organization they generally don't want 30 postings a day with random tidbits and observations. Social networking fans can be a valuable resource so just send them "the meat". Info to get them involved and down to the library!
Social bookmarking and social cataloguing are not quite as common, but their usefulness for libraries is continuing to be recognised. In brief, social bookmarking (through sites like delicious, digg, or reddit) is a way of letting others know what websites you like. Social bookmarking may not be the best option for your average public library, but a large one with many departments or a specialty library could benefit from this. Social bookmarking is very topic-specific. Check out this site with links to tattoo websites. Or this one about architecture-inspired art. Libraries could have social bookmarking sites that revolve around a certain genre, study tips, and recommended resources. Bookmarking sites are akin to SFS Girl showing people what topics she's interested in. Generally only those who are really interested in the same stuff or think that she is absolutely brilliant will explore her suggestions, but generally not too many other people.
Social cataloguing (through sites like Library Thing, goodreads, or shelfari) is letting others know exactly what sort of material you like to read. Once you find a person with similar taste to yours, an expert (or contemporary) in your field, you can return to the website over and over again for book ideas, website ideas, and resources in general. To use a social cataloguing site a library would need an enthusiastic librarian who is willing to put together recommended reading on one of these sites. Building genre-specific reading lists and resources could be a great service for patrons. Patron-specific lists can be put together along with book reviews to help patrons decide what to read. They could revolve around staff resources for a high school library, book club recommendations for a public library, or a complete catalogue for a very small library. SFS Girl would probably find the book reviews a handy tool. It would be her way of enthusiastically babbling on about her latest read.
All of these mediums have great potential, but probably social media (due to it's popularity) and social bookmarking (due to it's ability to comment on and rate books) are most applicable for libraries. So finally to answer the question I posed, "Are libraries still a social hub?". While they may have waned when technology started to hit it's zenith, I believe that the use of many of the new media formats available is helping to increase it's popularity although it may be in the virtual world more than the tangible.
