A presentation I gave at the WHELF conference at Gregynog on 11th June 2012. My pitch for why librarians can (and should) teach social media awareness to our students. Tells the tale of our experiments with this (so far...) at Swansea University. Includes a link to our resources shared under CC.

1. “Managing your
Online Presence”
Promoting digital
literacy
Sam Oakley,
Deputy Subject Librarian
Swansea University
s.l.c.oakley@swansea.ac.uk

2. Our students (mis)use of social media
hit the headlines this year...

5. EPIC FAIL

6. Not just for those students but also
for the university’s reputation

7. “Digital Literacy =
digital tool knowledge
+
critical thinking
+
social engagement”
(Josie Fraser, in The Guardian, 15 May 2012)

8. - “Send for the librarians!” -

9. If a digital literacy issue at our
institution is hitting the headlines,
maybe we (the library) could help?

10. “Librarians can
(and should)
teach
undergraduates
social media
awareness”

11. “This is the kind of thing
academic libraries should be
offering IF this isn’t already
catered for elsewhere in the
University”
Tweet by Ned Potter (‘The Wikiman’), 16.5.12

12. Is there a
demand?
This is what happened at Swansea when we
tried it out......

13. Original inspiration from
a blog post by David
Hopkins on a session
he had run....

14. Tiggerish
enthusiasm....
met with interest &
encouragement
(e.g. from
Careers)...
a team of librarians
set to work

16. Your (next) employer could be
watching you!
“What’s Your E-
Reputation?
Managing Your
Online Presence”
Hand-on session
Wed 2nd May, 1-2pm

17. DISASTER!
The date =
Varsity Match!
Not enough
booked on to run


18. - The End? -

20. Things are taking off...
• Session for final-year social work students
• Part of new Study Skills module for nurses
– Social media use is a big issue for public sector
workers
• Interest from other subject areas
– Demand coming from academics?
• General session to run again next term –
demand from students?

22. So what do we teach
them?
(There’s a link to our stuff at the end)

23. First we scare them with a few social media horror
stories....

24. Then we
help them:
tools, tips
and
strategies
to take
control of
their social
media use

25. ...and we tell them all the benefits of using social media for job
hunting, professional development and current awareness

26. That’s all very well but
why
bother?
(I’m busy)

27. The Library can be seen to Great for collaboration
offer a solution to a very (Careers, e-learning,
visible problem for the academics, students
university union)
Engage with key Demand from
issues: academics:
•Employability health & social care,
•Student Experience business,
•Digital Literacy law, teaching....
It’s a fun topic!
We use social media & we know
And easy to teach.
the benefits (information literacy!)
as well as the issues
(Badge available at Zazzle)

28. Our Stuff:
http://tinyurl.com/samoakleygreg2012
Thanks to my fellow
librarians Katrina Dalziel,
Elen Wyn Davies, Susan
Glen & Bernie Mathias
who helped develop &
publicise the session!
Images used under Creative Commons
courtesy of: LorenJavier, tinoubao,
jurvetson, Libertinus,
Country_Boy_Shane, kamshots, solaro
and xraydeltaone on Flickr