JSTOR October's Newsletter addresses the new way JSTOR is connecting to students, by using the latest technological Web 2.0 tools. Social Networking through the Internet, is currently the most popular channel for young people to communicate and share information, photos, musics, etc.
Reaching out to Students
Web 2.0 is a collective term for a wide array of community-based, interactive web tools and networking sites found on the Internet. College and High School students spend an increasing amount of time in these online environments. We are experimenting with two of the most popular social networking sites in order to put JSTOR information in the places where students spend their time.
* Facebook (a social networking site originally aimed at college students):We have created a Facebook group for the purpose of pointing students in the direction of helpful information about using JSTOR. The idea is that if a student is working on research late at night and needs help using the JSTOR interface, they may find the Facebook group via a general search and get exactly the information they need. Contents of the JSTOR Information Facebook group include links to JSTOR help pages, a short online tutorial on “How to Search JSTOR”, frequently asked questions and answers, and a link to the JSTOR Search application also on Facebook.
* YouTube:The second venue we chose was YouTube, the enormously popular site that provides users with the ability to upload videos and make them available to the world. Since students are likely to search for almost any topic on YouTube, we uploaded two short video tutorials on searching and browsing JSTOR. So far this has not been as frequently accessed as the Facebook applications, but we believe it is yet another promising avenue for providing information in an online location easily discovered by students.
* Facebook (a social networking site originally aimed at college students):We have created a Facebook group for the purpose of pointing students in the direction of helpful information about using JSTOR. The idea is that if a student is working on research late at night and needs help using the JSTOR interface, they may find the Facebook group via a general search and get exactly the information they need. Contents of the JSTOR Information Facebook group include links to JSTOR help pages, a short online tutorial on “How to Search JSTOR”, frequently asked questions and answers, and a link to the JSTOR Search application also on Facebook.
* YouTube:The second venue we chose was YouTube, the enormously popular site that provides users with the ability to upload videos and make them available to the world. Since students are likely to search for almost any topic on YouTube, we uploaded two short video tutorials on searching and browsing JSTOR. So far this has not been as frequently accessed as the Facebook applications, but we believe it is yet another promising avenue for providing information in an online location easily discovered by students.
The Librarian Comment:
Social Networking tools are also popular with the UJ students and the Library should try to embrace them and make the best to connect to the university younger generation.
How do you feel about using My Space, Facebook, YouTube, etc. as communication channel between yourself and the Library? Post a comment!
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