Conference Agenda

Since the early 2010s, Instagram has been growing in popularity as a social media platform (Ebrand, 2022; OFS, 2020). Instagram has become a truly interactive platform with a vast potential for organizations such as university libraries. The Helsinki University Library is the largest multidisciplinary research library in Finland, and it provides services to the University of Helsinki community as well as to the wider public. The library employs organic Instagram marketing strategies for promoting its services and collections actively, not only for current university students, but also for aspiring future ones as well. In this presentation, I will identify our library’s experiences on how to put a social-media strategy into practice and use Instagram as an effective tool in everyday library work.

The Helsinki University Library has been publishing library-related content on its own Instagram account (@helunilib) since 2014. In 2018, the library started to employ Instagram Stories more in its communications. Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing application into an interactive multimedia platform, which has driven the library to rethink its posting strategies. In 2019, the library updated its social media concepts and strategy. Besides Instagram, the library also posts regularly on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. For the library’s Instagram, the target groups are primarily students and other library patrons and secondarily other visitors, such as tourists and library enthusiasts.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, students in Finland were spending more time at home on their devices, which motivated the library to reach out to its customers online even more than before (Helsinki University Library Annual Report, 2021). Between the years 2020 and 2023, the number of followers of the Helsinki University Library Instagram account had increased by 567. In January 2023, the library had almost 1850 followers on Instagram.

Collaborations with other users has been an important practice for maximizing the library’s impact. To achieve this, the library has benefitted from interactive practices, such as Instagram Story takeovers, tagging relevant users and using question stickers in Stories. Many student organizations at the University of Helsinki have their own account on Instagram, which makes Instagram a valuable platform for reaching students.

In the beginning of the academic year, the library took over the University of Helsinki account and answered students’ questions on Instagram. These takeovers have helped the library to gain more followers and to reach individuals who would not necessarily follow other library channels. Having more friends and being active boosts the algorithm and thus grows the account’s visibility.

The library increased its student-engagement by using Instagram’s interactive features. One of the challenges has been posting regularly and keeping up with the changing trends and features. Recently, the library has experimented with reels and audio-based trends and even making videos on TikTok. As social media constantly changes, so too does students’ online behavior, in which case users might switch from one platform to another. The library’s task is to serve its customers and provide information using those channels that make sense for their communities.

References

Ebrand Group Oy, & Oulun kaupungin sivistys- ja kulttuuripalvelut. (2022). Suomessa asuvien 13–29-vuotiaiden nuorten sosiaalisen median palveluiden käyttäminen ja läsnäolo. [Finnish youngsters and social media 2022]. Retrieved January 4, 2023 from https://wordpress.ebrand.fi/somejanuoret2022

Helsinki University Library Annual Report. (2021). Retrieved March 5, 2023 from https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-university-library/contact-library/about-library/annual-report-2021

Official Statistics of Finland. (2020). Use of information and communications technology by individuals. Retrieved January 4, 2023 from http://www.stat.fi/til/sutivi/2020/sutivi_2020_2020-11-10_tie_001_en.html

The academic library service desk has the potential to be more of a pedagogical tool than it is today. This is our opinion after having conducted two studies to gather knowledge about the personal meeting at the library desk. In one of the studies, we investigated the meeting at the physical service desk, and the other aimed to explore our digital library desk. Both projects are in part financially supported by the National Library of Norway.

The first project we launched, in 2017, was “TREFF – towards a new platform for the desk services at the University Library of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)” (TREFF means “meeting”). The main goal of the project was to learn more about the personal meeting between students and library staff at the physical library service desk. In TREFF we used different research methods to collect data: mapping of service desk activity, focus group and individual interviews with students and a survey to the library staff.

Some of the main findings in TREFF were that the students in our interviews lacked knowledge about the library staff’s competencies and they did not know what kind of help they could get at the library desk. Although they might need it, they did not necessarily turn to the library desk to get help with their study needs. They preferred to ask short questions about practical things and did not wish to disturb or make a queue.

During the pandemic, The NTNU University Library established a digital library service desk, reference service, courses and writing activities on Zoom - The virtual library. The virtual library now continues to exist along with the traditional physical library services. In an ongoing project, SkjermTREFF (SkjermTREFF means “screen meeting”) we examined the meeting in the digital library desk, to find out more about which user groups visit the virtual library desk, how they experience the meeting and why a digital channel is chosen instead of physical attendance. The project lasted two years (2021-2023) and data was collected through different types of individual interviews, focus group interviews and statistics. Preliminary findings indicated that some of the things the informants appreciated most in the digital meeting were the focus, undisturbedness, and the experience of not having to rush, in contrast to the situation at a physical desk.

In our presentation we will discuss the findings from TREFF and SkjermTREFF and how we can use the knowledge to improve both the physical and digital library desks as pedagogical tools to help our users towards broadened information literacy skills. We also aim to learn about similar digital services, and what experiences and discoveries have been made in other libraries.

Public librarians play a significant role, as they are responsible for mediating access to information, which desirably includes training the population in information literacy. In the current context, the problems with fake news and disinformation make their action even more urgent, requiring a solid position in tackling this phenomenon, primarily through clarification and training to the population. In the case of academic libraries, few studies show the commitment of professionals in deepening actions and projects to fight disinformation (Antunes et al., 2021), even though, in Portugal, there are no studies on public libraries’ activities.

The literature highlights following advantages of developing these projects in public libraries:

• the importance of increasing the evaluation skills of information sources;

• the development of critical thinking to combat disinformation;

• strengthening citizenship and autonomy of individuals and their creative potential;

• the training of proactive critical thinkers based on validated information literacy strategies;

and urges decision-makers to put intentions and actions on their policy agenda (European Commission, 2016). However, it requires public library information professionals to be aware of the problem (Sayers, 2006), empowered with these skills and competencies (Matteson and Gersch, 2020), and committed to a culture of sharing resources and knowledge around the issue (Harding, 2008). But how can we know if and how they develop these actions? This exploratory study aims to better understand the level of knowledge, practices, and resources available in Portuguese public libraries to tackle disinformation. To this end, a questionnaire composed of 12 questions was designed and distributed via social networks of public libraries and by email. Seventy answers were obtained, and distributed throughout the national territory, representing about one-quarter of total of 303 municipal public libraries in Portugal. The results show the librarians’ consistent knowledge of the topic but still incipient actions about fighting disinformation. The practices that directly address the fight against disinformation and fake news through training in information literacy are scarce and lack guidance for their application. The fight against disinformation is global and urgent (European Commission, 2022), making it very relevant to train the librarians themselves to use their multiplier effect in training strategies with the population, contributing to the implementation of a more attentive, integrated, and critical citizen culture.

References

Antunes, M. L., Lopes, C., & Sanches, T. (2021). Como combater as fake news através da literacia da informação? Desafios e estratégias formativas no ensino superior. BiD, 46. https://doi.org/10.1344/BID2020.46.15

European Commission. (2016). Research for cult committee: Promoting media and information literacy in libraries. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/IPOL_IDA(2017)573454

European Commission. (2022). The strengthened code of practice on disinformation 2022. Retrieved from https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/2022-strengthened-code-practice-disinformation

Harding, J. (2008). Information literacy and the public library: We’ve talked the talk, but are we walking the walk? Australian Library Journal, 57(3), 274–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2008.10722480

Matteson, M. L., & Gersch, B. (2020). Information literacy instruction in public libraries. Journal of Information Literacy, 14(2), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.11645/14.2.2680

Sayers, R. (2006). Principles of awareness-raising for information literacy: A case study. UNESCO.

Introduction

Whereas previous studies interpret collaboration between academics and librarians in higher education from a perspective of information sharing (e.g. Pham & Williamson, 2018), few studies include social networks. Since ‘social network structures play a role in how easily information circulates’ (Haythornthwaite, 2017), investigating how social networks are configured contributes to understanding how academics and librarians collaborate. This study aims to explore the collaboration in information literacy settings for first year students from a perspective in which information sharing and social networks are combined, based on a case study of Aalto University in Finland.

Method & Results

A qualitative case study approach was adopted. Aalto University was selected because of its library reorganisation. The library was divided into eight teams embedded in four institutional service sections, and librarians were allocated across these teams in 2018. Then, information literacy instructional services were divided into two teams: the learning services team responsible for first year students and the research services team responsible for graduation theses (Nagasawa, 2022). This study focuses on the learning services team after the reorganisation. The data were collected between June and December 2021 through semi-structured interviews, using Zoom, with librarians and academics at Aalto University. For this study, data was collected from a total of three interviews of two librarians in the learning services team-one group interview with both librarians and then two individual interviews. The material was analysed via thematic analysis. Findings were identified in relation to the types of information sharing proposed by Talja (2002).

Following the reorganisation, no cohesive ties between academics and librarians were formed although new ties were built between librarians and various learning service teams including units within schools. One of the librarians allocated to the learning services team was asked to deliver library orientation for first year students across all schools of the university. As a result of this, the librarian started to participate in the institutional orientation group meetings, which were composed of various learning service team members. Although information around orientation, including in the various departments of schools, began to be shared with the librarian, the librarian independently prepared library orientation materials based on previously listed basic information from the schools because the sessions’ input and outcomes were basic and universal enough to be designed without further information. Since this task is accomplished based on indirectly sharing routine information with schools rather than with academics, the information sharing between academics and librarians identified in this study is categorised as ‘nonsharing’.

Conclusions

This study finds that the library reorganisation built no cohesive networks between academics and librarians but did develop institutional learning service networks which include librarians and staff in the schools. The information literacy instructional task for first year students is carried out based not on sharing information between academics and librarians but based on routine information indirectly from schools and transmitted through the expanded learning service networks.

References

Hathornthwaite, C. (2017). Social networks and information transfer. In J. D. McDonald, & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (pp. 4235–4245).

Nagasawa, T. (2022). Collaboration between academics and librarians in information literacy instruction at Aalto University following a decentralising restructure. Information Research, 27(Special issue), paper colis2215.

Pham, H.T., & Williamson, K. (2018). A two-way street: Collaboration and information sharing in academia. Information Research, 23(4), paper isic1810.

Talja, S. (2002). Information sharing in academic communities. New Review of Information Behavior Research, 3(1).