Social Networks

I'm all for social networks in general and library participation in particular. Especially if I can continue to ignore them entirely. I'm not a very social person and online communities don't hold a lot of attraction for me. I really, really hate IMs. I prefer e-mails to phone calls. (They're so much easier to ignore.)

The articles weren't entirely clear on this point, but I thought profiles were fairly passive. You find them when you search, but you don't have to click on them. I'm assuming Libraries don't force people to be there friends. If people are looking at the library's profile then it's because they're interested.

It sounds like a quiet way to remind people about the library. The online equivalent of deploying the bookmobile. When people see the bookmobile going down the street they remember the library. At the fair or in the Safeway parking lot it advertises as well as provides library service. Let people see it and think, "I should return those books and ask whatever happened with that last levy!" I think joining online communities is necessary for libraries, although I would personally rather eat glass then have to maintain any such project.