Use of Social Network Sites (SNS) by Library Academics in the Workplace: Perspectives of University Librarians in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Libraries and in particular, university libraries around the globe are constantly revolutionized due to technological advancements which provide rich opportunities for libraries to embed blends of innovations into the work environment and render better services for their user communities. This research attempted to render views of library academics with regard to their current use of Social Network Sites (SNS) in the workplace. The objectives of the study were to investigate the background of SNS use by university library academics inclusive of their usage experience, skills and frequency of use, to examine the types of SNS used by them, professional purposes as well as personal purposes for using SNS in the workplace and to investigate the access methods and user perceptions towards SNS use in the workplace. Data were gathered from a study population of 116 university librarians in Sri Lanka via the survey strategy based on a questionnaire and the data analysis was done using descriptive statistics. The key findings of the study included that the majority (78.4%) of university librarians who participated in the survey used SNS in the workplace, respondents who had 1-5year experience in using SNS were in majority (44.8%), a high percentage (64.7%) of respondents assessed themselves as having “moderate experience” in using SNS, more than half (52.6%) of the respondents felt that they possessed adequate skills to use SNS, Facebook was the social network site most frequently used by the respondents (64.7%), most university librarians used SNS in the workplace to fulfill both professional and personal purposes, while the highest percentage of university librarians (58.6%) used SNS in the workplace for the specific professional purpose of “interacting with co-workers and professionals in the field” and the highest percentage of them (47.4%) used SNS for the specific personal purpose of “personal contact”, and the majority of them used the university network to access SNS in the workplace. Sri Lankan university librarians should keep pace with new innovative technologies such as SNS to remain worthy and important in this competitive digital world.