Google This! Putting Google and Other Social Media Sites to Work for Your Library

Citation

Parry, F. (2013), "Google This! Putting Google and Other Social Media Sites to Work for Your Library", Online Information Review, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 147-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521311311685

The author of Google This! has had nearly 50 years of working in libraries and has evidently built up a formidable network of contacts, colleagues and professional associations on which to base his case study approach to Google and social media sites. He also has managed to secure several key interviews with Google employees at the Googleplex headquarters. Ballard has an easy, relaxed style that radiates an enthusiasm for his subject. His writing is conversational but pointed and purposeful at the same time.

Life changes, and with Google and many other social media providers it changes very quickly indeed. It is quite a task for the librarian who is keen to take advantage of social media to decide which tools can be used and developed when they might disappear or mutate very shortly afterwards. Even in the short time since this book has been published iGoogle, described in one chapter, has been earmarked for closure. It is to Ballard's credit that this does not seem to present such an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuit of finding new and effective ways for libraries to engage with their patrons.

Each chapter starts with an abstract, keywords and a usually apt and often amusing quotation. The chapters are short but manage to pack a punch. They always contain good pointers to more information, set‐up advice and case studies. Some of the chapters contain dialogues between Ballard and contacts, such as Colin Wright who describes his work for the British Library's Facebook presence. This makes for good reading and illuminates the successes, pitfalls and areas for future development very well.

Ballard's networking thus produces a wealth of stories to use as illustrations for various social media library applications, and these include Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Google Maps and Google Earth, e‐books, mobile applications and Google Scholar. Some will be known to most readers, but most contain a fresh take on these now familiar tools. A case in point is Google custom search. Reading Ballard's book, it becomes clear that advances in the technology, especially on “free to use” applications, are often a collaborative process which reaches beyond the walls of the technology manufacturers. Google or social media producers will provide the tools, but it is up to active and inquisitive library systems designers to make good use of them.

As one can expect, not all social media are easy to get to grips with. There are instances related here which required some very careful planning and development. This is illustrated in the chapter on Google Maps and Google Earth, for instance, with the experience of one library attempting to use KML files to add local information to Google Maps. In some cases designing and developing library services for new technologies which are so new and take place in such a fast‐changing environment can be fraught with danger. For instance, Ballard recognises that, while patrons are beginning to move away from browser access to apps, some libraries are slow to develop mobile applications. There may be any number of reasons for this, but Ballard signs off the chapter by saying that it is a challenge which must be faced.

Ballard is not blind to the pitfalls of the new media and considers what can go wrong in his final chapter on what the future holds. By and large he covers the ground very well, and one can only be impressed with the number of projects in which he has had a hand. Occasionally, some applications are not as fully explored as they might have been – the short paragraph on QR codes is a case in point. I would also have liked to see a little more of a critical edge in his analysis of some Google products. These are minor points, however, and should not draw attention away from what is a very useful and insightful study of the ways in which social media can be used by enterprising libraries. This work is highly recommended.