Internal communication in libraries

Are we organizations 2.0 ?

Janvier 2012

Raphaëlle Bats, Enssib@knitandb

Bobcatsss 2012

Bobcatsss 2012

Media 2.0 : participation, interaction, sociability.

2.0 = mix of genres • written communication (blogs, wikis)• conversational communication (Facebook, Twitter)

Is the chat a web 2.0 tool? "[a] brief overview of the origins of the chat allows us to observe the concomitant emergence of two

distinct modes of articulation of the chat, a rather instrumental, self-centered and focused on efficiency - whose device type is instant messaging - and the other, more user-friendly and oriented toward sociability in a virtual place - on the model of the electronic forum."(Latzko-Toth, 2010, p74)1.

Background and purpose : medias

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Internal communication : management and leadership.

Internal communication ?• Official communication• Informal communication• Written communication• Oral communication• ….

Background and purpose : work

project management

"What most characterize the current period and that is often overlooked by management is that the main vector of cooperation is precisely the direct communication at work (not just the organizational framework and managerial action)."(Zarifian 2010, p 137).

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Have the roles of directors and leaders of libraries changed with these tools that claim to be equalitarian, transparent, to break boundaries, to spread the untold?

Is there or not an use of web 2.0 tools in internal communication in university libraries ?

Background and purpose

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Survey with Limesurvey, hosted by EnssibDiffusion : blog, twitter, ADBU, mailingDates : november 2011

Items : Facebook, Twitter, chat, textingAre they used in external communication ?Are they used in internal communication ?What directors think about qualities of these medias for

communication ?

Target : universities libraries' directorsHow they communicate with the direction team ?

Materials and procedure : the survey

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66% of academic libraries have responded.

But a large part of incomplete answers.

25,42% of university libraries' directors give a complete responses

Findings

For increase the complete answer rate : • Changing some questions not enough clear• Contact each director personally to explain the project

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Findings : Texting

37% of answering directors text with their teams• advice on contingency (33.33%), • give appointment (22.22%), • inform on presence or absence (18.52%), • sort out easy problems (18.52%) • Update and share knowledge (11.11%).

Personal phones are used more frequently than professional phones.

Out of the library

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Findings : Facebook

No library director uses Facebook to communicate with their team.

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Findings : Twitter

Only one director of university library uses Twitter for internal communication.

• Inform about the unexpected, • sort out easy problems • Update and share knowledge

Professional or personal tools for twittering (telephones, computers, tablets).

Inside and outside the library

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Findings : chat

Only one director uses the chat to communicate with the direction team

• inform about the unexpected, • give appointments,• give notice of presence or absence, • sort out easy problems.

Professional or personal tools

Inside the library but out of his-her office

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Discussion

Our university libraries are far from being 2.0 organizations. HYPOTHESIS :

NOMADISM ? : The importance of using texting shows that the problem is not relying in the use of a nomadic and fast media but in the use of media that can be considered Web 2.0.

NOVELTY ? : These media being no longer new and getting started being easy, the know-how to use them is widespread.

CHANGE ? : The speed at which rise and fall of some media can explain a refusal to get involved.

SERIOUSNESS ? : for some people, these tools are not that serious and are much more characterizing a trend, rather an adolescent communication. Such a feeling is hardly compatible with the seriousness expected of an internal communication.

PUBLICITY  : the publicity of a conversation on twitter and facebook, compare to the privacy of a conversation with chat or texting.

COLLABORATION : the main obstacle to these tools is maybe their participative and collaborative aspects .

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Discussion

Management versus leadership ?"Since they possessed equal rank and complementary roles, they created a shared leadership environment where each librarian shifted between leader and follower based on the circumstances and required expertize" (Pan et al. 2011, p 348).

The 2.0 : micro-business communities, recreate a corporate culture, be an internal community manager "The contemporary thought considers corporate culture is built from the experience, knowledge and ways of thinking developed and shared socially. It consists mainly of micro cultures that ARE strengthened within groups of employees. These are forms of social relations and informal modes of behavior which are dynamic and have unique characteristics."(Massiera 2007, p 95)

Medias 2.0 seem to offer us the opportunity of a such hybridity which the first step to a library 2.0. (CEFRIO 2011).

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Conclusion

Just the beginning…• process all the results• launch the second survey to the direction teams• Propose the same survey in other countries and etablish a map of libraries as organizations 2.0

Privassional / privessionnel

To be continued...next year at Bobcatsss 2013?

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References

CEFRIO, 2011. Livre blanc sur les nouveaux usages du Web 2.0 dans les organisations. From http://www.cefrio.qc.ca/publications/detail-dune-publication/publication/5240/45/ Latzko-Toth, G., 2010. Le chat est-il (encore) un média interactif? tic&société, Vol. 4, n° 1. From http://ticetsociete.revues.org/751 Massiera, B., 2007. Culture d’entreprise, l’échec d’un concept. Communication, Vol. 25/2. From http://communication.revues.org/index885.html.

Morillon, L., 2007. Nomadisme du modèle marketing, quelle appropriation dans les recherches actions en communication organisationnelle ? Communication et organisation, 31, (pp.214-227).

Pan, D., Bradbeer, G. & Jurries, E., 2011. From communication to collaboration: blogging to troubleshoot e-resources. Electronic Library, The, 29(3), (pp.344-353).

Zarifian, P., 2010. La communication dans le travail. Communication et organisation, 38, (pp.135-146).

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Questions ? @knitandb

Thank you

And thanks to Benoît (for presenting) and Philippe (for translating the paper)

Raphaëlle Batsraphaelle.bats@enssib.frrbats.pro@gmail.com