Social Networking

The feeling I get is that libraries' use of Facebook or MySpace is a type of outreach. Young people aren't in the library, they're on MySpace, so let's go there to reach them.

I have no problem with this, and I expect that it could be useful in reaching kids who are already predisposed towards the library. As a tool they're using for communication, social networking is important, so why shouldn't libraries have their presence there?

It could be a part of a library's communication/outreach program. I don't think we're going to reach seniors there. And how much effect it would have on young people who weren't already using the library, I don't know. Are there stats on that, I wonder? "We built our YAAB group through MySpace!" That sort of thing.