The Use of Social Media Sites by University Library Staff to Facilitate Undergraduate Students

This qualitative study aims to investigate the use of social media sites by university library staff to facilitate undergraduate students. Two Greek academic libraries were examined and the specific social media investigated was Facebook since it was the only common social media to both libraries. The method that was used was the interpretive method in order to gain better insight of students’ perceptions, motivations and request their suggestions regarding the use of social media by academic libraries. More specifically, twelve undergraduate students were interviewed and then the results were analyzed via Thematic Analysis. The results of this research showed that students appreciate the existence of their library’s Facebook page as an informational tool. On the other hand, improvements should be made regarding its use as a communication tool. Benefits, such as time gain, the ability to get in touch with new people, job opportunities, and reminders of important educational programs (Erasmus), were acknowledged by all students. Moreover, interesting suggestions were made, such as to increase the availability of open access books, the use of cameras for communicating with librarians via Facebook, and an increase in the number of photos of books. Other ideas were the ability to see the availability of books in the library, the ability to borrow them electronically, and the creation of a Facebook group to discuss common interests with other students