Popularization of Science

Popularization of Science

Librarians Encountering Challenges in the Use of Social Media and the Proposed Approaches

Document Type : Review Paper

Author
Faegheh Mohammadi
Assistant Professor of Information Science and Knowledge Department of Tabriz University
Abstract
Several information resources have developed various definitions of “social media”.  The common definition describes social media as a group of web-based and mobile applications of web 2.0 that allow users to share and create knowledge in a real time social interaction. It is user-centric, multi-purpose and it is not time and location bound. According to the previous research, although the librarians have positive attitude towards using social media in libraries, in practice they may experience a lot of challenges. These challenges may concern human resources, Time, management and etc. Using Library research method, firstly, this paper attempts to provide a general definition of social media. Then it addresses some of existing challenges in the use of social media in libraries and information centers from various perspectives. At last the paper suggests some approaches to improve librarians’ motivation, codify a usage guideline and encourage scholars to perform more researches in this area in order to deal with mentioned challenges
Keywords
Social Media
Librarians
Scientific Use
Challenges
Approaches
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Popularization of Science
Volume 7, Issue 1 - Serial Number 10
September 2015
Pages 23-35