Albertson College of Idaho's Terteling Library's early forays into MySpace and Facebook have made the news, at least on campus. 

The October 17th issue of the Coyote, ACI's student newspaper, includes the article "Are you a Facebook friend with Terteling? Library uses social networking sites to communicate with students, get input."

This SPLATster is quoted as saying "If the library is going to reach students, to build a relationship with them, then this is where we need to be.  I want students to think of Terteling as 'their' library, to feel like the can talk to the library, make suggestions, spark changes.  My hope is that eventually these social networks will enable students to interact with the library on a more informal basis, to see 'the lighter side' of Terteling – the graphic novels, the fiction, the one-on-one research help that is available.  The sites could also help us build a community of readers and library users who share their experiences with each other."

The results so far: a big increase in the number of views on our MySpace blog, a few new "friends," a bit of faculty head shaking.

I did have to post in the MySpace blog (which is imported into our Facebook notes) about the recent demise of many library profiles on Facebook…just to try and prepare our friends, should we disappear.