"You might as well expect rivers to run backwards as any man born free to be contented penned up"
Well - what can be said about all these social network sites that our younger generation(s) can't seem to get enough of? I've looked at a few of the library sites but none have really invited me in. Some didn't link, others hadn't been updated for some considerable time - nothing like information about events that are a year or more old to make you shut the door on that one! Others had so much, it made your eyes blur. Like anything in this tech-age, the tools - and we have discovered what a wealth of these there are - are great if they are used well, but you do need to spend time and effort into making these work for your site. I didn't see many comments on the several library myspace and bebo pages I visited, and I admit to feeling jaded over my explorations. There is just too much out there, and after dipping in to places that hold no appeal, you begin to see what a challenge it is to create something that will grab and hold the attention of the net-kids.
I did find Beth Evans' article "Your space or MySpace?" an interesting read, and I learned some new words - Millennials; "screen-agers" - and I do agree how easily we librarians can suffer "paralysis by analysis" - refusing to move forward into new ventures because we overthink. For any library thinking of setting up one of these network accounts, you need to decide why you are doing it, and have a clear idea of what you want to do with it, and how you will use it to interact with your younger patrons. Don't just do it because everyone else is, and you think it's 'a good idea'.There are endless possibilities as far as what and how you can attract these "screen-agers" to your site, but with so much competition out there in so many forms, you need to have some goal in mind when you begin. Once you do begin - don't forget the on-going needs of resourcing such a project. Libraries and librarians have never been afraid to jump on the next wave, but we sometimes struggle to stay afloat for the journey, or when it moves to the next chapter. So yes, I think there is a place for libraries to have a presence on bebo, Facebook, MySpace, etc, sitting alongside our more traditional roles - it gives another means of entering our "community living-rooms", but in a rather more "virtual" way.
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