Facing Our Future: Social Media Takeover, Coexistence or Resistance? The Integration of Social Media and Reference Services

Academic libraries around the globe have adopted a range of digital technologies to deliver enquiry and reference services. The use of social media by university libraries to communicate with staff and students is now as pervasive as traditional online reference services, such as email. Some libraries use these services in conjunction with each other, but for others there appears to be no interrelation. Is social media the future for reference services or a passing fad?

This paper will examine the use of social media by academic libraries in the world’s top 100 universities. This will include the integration of social media with reference services, satisfaction with the use of social media in comparison with other digital reference services, the need for a social media strategy (or not) and the factors determining whether social media is successful.

The authors will formulate the benefits of streamlining digital enquiry initiatives and services with the aim of providing the “one stop online shop”.