Use of Social Media Tools by the Academic Libraries in Northern India: A Study

Abstract

The use of various social media tools in libraries is not a new topic and is in vogue for more than a decade now. Academic libraries around the globe are widely using social media tools to reach to their users and promote their products and services. The present study was carried out to determine the use of Social Media tools used for promoting the library resources and services in the academic libraries in Northern India. The library websites were analyzed for identifying social media tools being used. The study reveals that the majority of the academic libraries do not use any Social Media tool. However, their respective parent organizations use a few Social Media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Ask a Librarian and RSS feeds. The study further reveals that Email service is being used by many libraries followed by YouTube and Blog services.