As mentioned in my blog post earlier, Parramatta City Council Library has used an array of Library 2.0 technologies to promote their services and interact with their users. They have been successful in establishing a strong relationship with the youth and children of the library via their Interactive one-on-one tutoring program which also involves an intelligent use of instant messaging software.
The library has also been successful in reaching their youth as well as adult users via their smart use of online social networking sites such as Twitter and also providing an outstanding well designed blog for adults on their fiction collection and book club.
Recommendations:
One such Library 2.0 strategy I would recommend Parramatta City Council Library make use of is an online reference system for adults, in addition to the successful program used for their students. Building upon their online tutoring program to provide an “Ask A Librarian Service” may be an effective way of doing this. The National Library of Australia’s AskNow reference service is one such reference service that demonstrates the effective use of this technology. I would also suggest that this integrate the local studies aspect of the library for enquiries into ancestry, family history and local history. The information gained from reference service could in hand provide an informative lead up to appointments with users.
One other suggestion for Parramatta City Council’s Local Studies services and for their Local Studies Library itself, would be the use of a blog or Facebook page which would serve to inform patrons of Parramatta’s local history in a creative and interactive way. Facebook is the most popular and widely used form of social media and a Facebook page would enable Parramatta City Council Library to promote the history of Parramatta Council as well and the library's local history, events and exhibitions to a large group of users. Well known and reputable libraries such as the British Library have used this 2.0 technology effectively, by maintaining a Facebook page with daily updates and over 24,000 members.
Parramatta city council has an array of activities listed on their monthly events calendar, one way of promoting the success of these events, programs and exhibitions would be through the use of an online image sharing page on Flickr. Photographs of past storytime nights, events with guest speakers or even new library refurbishment photo’s would be a perfect way to inform users of events and spur their interest in the library. Libraries such as Mosman Library, New Jersey State Library and Princeton’s Public Library reveal their effective use of the technology to promote their services.
The recommendations outlined above would help enhance Parammatta City Councils already strong relationship with their users.
