Figure 1
Timeline of social media
Table 1
Smaller libraries selected for interview
Key to types of library:
Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical; Pub: Public; Sch/FE: School/Further Education
NB The PLHS account is currently inactive
| Type | Library name | Followers | Tweets | Likes | Account creation date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acd/HE | African Studies Library (ASL) @AfrStudiesLib | 1,757 | 9,916 | 420 | 10/03/2011 |
| Med | NHFT Library Service (NHFT) @NHFTNHSLibrary | 1,253 | 10,824 | 1,205 | 20/02/2012 |
| Other | St Bride Library @stbridelibrary | 10,475 | 5,213 | 3,165 | 12/04/2008 |
| Pub | Orkney Library @OrkneyLibrary | 35,075 | 19,300 | 9,280 | 29/06/2009 |
| Sch/FE | PLHS Library (PLHS) @PLHSLibrary | 987 | 4,611 | 7,247 | 19/08/2015 |
Figure 2
Number of libraries registering on Twitter by year
Figure 3
Number of types of library with Twitter accounts
Key to types of library:
Pub/Joint: public with any combined or joint Twitter accounts; Pub/CC: public posting for an entire county; Pub/Borough: public posting for a London borough; Pub (Misc.) – other public; Sch/FE: School/Further Education; Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical
Figure 4
Library accounts registered per year by type of library
Key to types of library:
Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical; Pub: Public; Sch/FE: School/Further Education
Table 2
Number of libraries by last year tweeted (up to 2017)
| Last tweet year | No. of libraries |
|---|---|
| Never | 6 |
| 2009 | 2 |
| 2010 | 8 |
| 2011 | 8 |
| 2012 | 12 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2015 | 23 |
| 2016 | 53 |
| 2017 | 1,288 |
Figure 5
Average number of tweets per day by type of library
Key to types of library:
Sch/FE: School/Further Education; Pub: Public; Med: Medical; Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Pub/Borough: public posting for a London borough; Pub/Joint: public with any combined or joint Twitter accounts; Pub/CC: public posting for an entire county
Table 3
Identified good and bad practice in Twitter account use
| Good practice | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| Whole account details were altered | 3 | 0.21 |
| Altered the named person | 4 | 0.28 |
| Additional location was added | 11 | 0.77 |
| Altered the description | 32 | 2.25 |
| Accounts with # in description | 54 | 3.79 |
| Accounts with a Twitter handle in description | 188 | 13.21 |
| Accounts with ‘Library/Libraries’ in their description | 1,101 | 77.37 |
| Accounts with ‘Library/Libraries’ in their name | 1,107 | 77.79 |
| Bad practice | No. | % |
| Accounts with no description | 99 | 6.96 |
| Accounts with no location | 187 | 13.14 |
Table 4
Library accounts with more than two duplicate names
| Name | No. |
|---|---|
| LRC | 5 |
| Librarian | 5 |
| SHS Library | 4 |
| St John’s Library | 4 |
| Library | 4 |
| The Librarian | 3 |
Table 5
Duplicate Twitter accounts
| Name | Location | Description | Date created |
|---|---|---|---|
| GHS Library (handle no longer available) | 11/04/2014 | ||
| GHS Library (@ghslibraryreads) | Twitter feed of Greenford High School Library. Encouraging a love of books and reading. | 06/01/2015 |
Table 6
Twitter accounts which disappeared
| Name | Location |
|---|---|
| Surrey Library | Guildford, Surrey |
| BCH Staff Library | Birmingham, England |
| Lingfield Library | Surrey |
| Winterbourne Library | South Gloucestershire, GB |
Table 7
Type of libraries with Twitter accounts (24 July 2016, with average follower increases from 12 June 2016)
Key to types of library:
Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical; Sch/FE: School/Further Education; Pub (Misc.) – other public; Pub/Borough: public posting for a London borough; Pub/CC: public posting for an entire county; Pub/Joint: public with any combined or joint Twitter accounts
| Type of library | No. with Twitter accounts | Average followers (+/– between data sets) | Max. followers | Min. followers | Average likes per account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acd/HE | 298 | 2,318 (–23) | 51,501 | 13 | 603 |
| Med | 164 | 582 (+72) | 12,152 | 13 | 466 |
| Other | 57 | 5,460 (+214) | 33,376 | 14 | 1,327 |
| Sch/FE | 374 | 287 (+12) | 5,601 | 10 | 429 |
| Public Libraries (All): | 530 | 1,436 (–5) | 35,075 | 1 | 715 |
| Pub (Misc.) | 352 | 901 (+22) | 35,075 | 1 | 516 |
| Pub/Borough | 29 | 1,984 (+20) | 4,290 | 15 | 801 |
| Pub/CC | 28 | 2,763 (–102) | 7,584 | 236 | 1,091 |
| Pub/Joint | 121 | 2,551 (+37) | 18,490 | 22 | 1,188 |
| Grand Total | 1,423 | 1,381 (–12) | 51,501 | 1 | 612 |
Figure 6
Average number of followers by most recent tweet
Key to types of library:
Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical; Pub: Public; Sch/FE: School/Further Education
Table 8
Tweets per day vs. average followers
| Number of Tweets per day | Percentage of total libraries tweeting | Number of libraries tweeting | Average followers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | 59% | 839 | 456 |
| 1–2 | 20% | 279 | 1,659 |
| 2–3 | 10% | 144 | 3,283 |
| 3–4 | 4% | 51 | 3,086 |
| 4–5 | 3% | 46 | 4,439 |
| 5–6 | 1% | 21 | 2,553 |
| 6–7 | 1% | 14 | 5,398 |
| 7–8 | 0% | 6 | 7,142 |
| 8–9 | 0% | 4 | 2,854 |
| 9–10 | 0% | 2 | 5,200 |
| 10–11 | 0% | 1 | 9,326 |
| 11–12 | 0% | 3 | 4,287 |
| 12–13 | 0% | 4 | 2,700 |
| 13–14 | 0% | 1 | 4,116 |
| 14–15 | 0% | 1 | 299 |
| 16–17 | 0% | 2 | 2,954 |
| 17–18 | 0% | 1 | 3,418 |
| 20–21 | 0% | 1 | 33,376 |
| 26–27 | 0% | 1 | 10,609 |
| 28–29 | 0% | 1 | 650 |
| 63–64 | 0% | 1 | 270 |
Figure 7
Average follower count over time
Figure 8
Average followers by type of library over time
Key to types of library:
Acd/HE: Academic/Higher Education; Med: Medical; Pub: Public; Sch/FE: School/Further Education