Implications of Social Networking Tools in Re-Engineering of Library Service Delivery in Digital Environment

Abstract

Social netw orking sites are one of the new technologies off ering libraries the opportu nity to reach out to its clients. The use of this technology has aff ected the operations and service delivery of all libraries. Based on this f act m ost libraries have attached a link of a social netw orking site to th eir library‟s w eb pages. The idea of having a social netw orking site linked to a library ‟s w eb page is to enable patrons‟ have a liv e discussion w ith a prof essional issues relating to th e use of the library and also allow th e libraries to advertise their programm es and activities. The linking of social netw orking sites to th e library‟ s w eb page f acilitates collaborations between the library and th e user com m unity . In this paper w e are try ing to discussing about characteristics of social netw orking sites, and its possible im plications in reengin eering of library services delivery in dig ital environm ent. These are discussed under th e three broader activ ities in library services like inf orm ation com m unication, inf orm ation distribution and know ledge organization. And also discussion on challenges of social netw orkin g sites, recom m endations to overcom e th ose problem s in im plem enting social netw orkin g sites, advantages and disadvantages of social netw orking sites are given.