A STUDY OF USE AND UTILITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE PROMOTION OF TODAY’S LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES

Abstract

Social media has become the prime need of the day for the people to stay in touch with each other. The impact of social networking sites can be seen in each and every aspect of human activities. Library and Information Services are also affected by the usefulness of Social media tools and now Library and Information Professionals are also using social networking sites to promote various services of their respective libraries in the users' community. The users also find it easy to get in touch with Library and Information Services by using Social Networking tools by simply sitting at a place. This study deals with the usage and importance of selected tools and techniques of social media which are now widely used by Library and Information Center for the promotion of their services and invite users for interaction in knowledge searching process. The study reveals the usefulness of social media tools for Library and Information Professionals and highlights the utility of social networking sites on day to day proceedings of the present day Libraries and Information centers of all types. In today's world interaction among people is very important for establishing contacts between each other as well as to discuss or share views on different aspects of life. For this type of interaction, social media is playing an important role in joining one individual of a community to the other member of any community. Interaction among people has reached up to the level, that they are now sharing each and every aspect of their social life using social networking sites. This is the time when people want to stay in touch with the others even without physical presence. Social media in social networking form is very much popular which gives direct access to its patrons with a simple login formality. As the impact of Social media is felt in each and every sphere of human activities, Library and Information Science field is not an exception of it. Libraries impart their services to the users of all categories and communication or interaction between the users and Library professionals enhances the effective utilization of Library resources. In the area of Library and Information Science, Information providers are directly related to public/ users where interaction skills play important role. Information Science being service oriented field, many of the social media tools can be best applied for faster and effective service depending upon the need of clientele or patron. Keeping this in view, this profession has adopted all the phases of technological advances from time to time, right from computer based services to internet based social networking.