2009 ALISE Conference

3

Remember the Rolodex: Social network instruction for LIS students

Rebecca Miller-Banner

rebecca.miller.banner@uky.edu

Remember the Rolodex: Social network instruction for LIS students

The advent of websites such as Ning, LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook have made representing, maintaining, and growing one’s group of contacts easier than ever; not surprising in the cyberspace realm, where connections can happen with the click of a mouse. Social network sites have brought to the surface the inherent and often invisible connections between people, but they are not the first to do so. Like e-mail address books, these sites are a new twist on an earlier social network tool, the Rolodex.

As scholars in the areas of diffusion and social network analysis (SNA) have shown, social networks are a critical aspect of information transfer, particularly with informal information. Information about opportunities, activities, events and other people routinely travel through social channels. Capitalizing upon these networks should be an important aspect of information retrieval for the savvy librarian. Even though the Internet now offers searching capabilities with the click of a mouse, it is sometimes simpler just to ask another human. The basic Rolodex, and now the social network sites, represents a vital tool in the librarian’s kit: drawing on one’s network of personal and professional contacts.

Along with education on how to mine databases, plumb the World Wide Web, and hunt down citations, LIS students should also learn how to identify, grow and maintain their individual network of contacts. This paper first briefly describes the notion of social networks, and then details a method to teach students how to identify their own networks as a start to developing a rich complex of professional contacts. By following examples set forth by scholars in diffusion and SNA, students are stimulated to identify individuals with one degree of separation (i.e., they know that person themselves) and articulate how they know them and what information they may have. Students are introduced to the concepts of “six degrees of separation” and “strength of weak ties” to comprehend the theoretical underpinnings of social networks. A lesson module plan adaptable to face-to-face or online instruction delivery is presented and suggested readings are included. Although no measures have been made as to how successful students are in activating their networks once identified, student response to this method has been positive and enthusiastic.