The Humboldt County Library's Online Presence

For this assignment, I've decided to look my local library system, the Humboldt County Public Library system.  Although I have visited my local Arcata branch library often and have also made occasional trips to the Eureka main branch library, I have never encountered the library online except through their main website.  I was curious to know whether or not my local library system used other online tools to connect with the public and how well they worked.

The Humboldt County Public Library system in California is a fairly small, rural library system that includes eleven branches and a bookmobile.  The library’s main branch is located in Eureka, the county seat.  Other branches are located throughout the county in Arcata, Blue Lake, Ferndale, Fortuna, Garberville, Hoopa, McKinleyville, Rio Dell, Trinidad, and Willow Creek.  Although Humboldt County is geographically large, its population is relatively small.  The 2009 population estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau for the entire county was a little under 130,000.  The largest city in the county, Eureka, has a population of about 26,000.  The county's other cities and towns are much smaller and many are quite isolated.

Despite small populations, many towns in the county boast branch libraries.  The library system's collection is shared between them, with the largest part of the collection housed at the Eureka main library.  The branch libraries are small with small print collections, but patrons who want to borrow a book not present in the branch library can have it delivered there by requesting it. 

As for web presence, most of the library's online communication with patrons happens on their main website.  It is updated regularly with current events and library news and provides information and a link to the library's online catalog, which is connected to WorldCat.

For the most part the Humboldt County Library does not seem to have taken advantage of any Web 2.0 technologies.  There are no RSS feeds on their website, nor are there links to any other social networking site like Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace.  Each branch has its own webpage within the site with branch-specific contact information including addresses and phone numbers.  However, none of the branches provide an email contact (nor does the main library).

Searches of Twitter and MySpace returned no results for libraries in the Humboldt County system, but a search of Facebook was more successful.  The branch library in Trinidad has a Facebook profile with updates and comments from users.  However, it has not been maintained in some time--the most recent wall post is from January 11, 2011, and before that from October 10, 2010.  The lack of recent posts is very likely due to the recent closure of the Trinidad branch library last October.  Though the library is reopening soon, there have not been any new posts.

The Fortuna branch library has also created a Facebook group page for its Youth Advisory Council.  At this time, the page has only been in existence for about two weeks and has only two members.  The Facebook page appears to be a method of outreach to teens in the community and a forum for communication between Advisory Council members.  It is unclear whether or not the Advisory Council program has been put into effect, or if the Facebook page has been put into use yet.

The only other Web 2.0 service for the Humboldt County Library I was able to locate was actually a feature of WebCat.  On the library's profile, new additions to the catalog are displayed prominently.  Users can subscribe to this page via RSS to receive updates when new items are added.  Though not provided through the library's site, this service could still be useful to patrons.  Unfortunately, the library itself does not appear promote this service.

Because the library system has not put much effort into creating an online presence, they do not have a very strong sense of "brand" online.  Isolated efforts by individual branches help to reach their local communities, but they do not add much to the image of a unified library brand--especially when the main branch is not participating.  Much more could be done to create a more solid online presence and brand.

If I were hired as a social media marketing consultant (and assuming the necessary funding was available), I would first suggest a re-vamp of the library's website.  As it stands, it looks very sparse and outdated.  An organization's website can put a patron off quickly if it is confusing or poorly laid-out.  And an attractive, modern-looking website sends a positive message about the library.  RSS feeds would be a very simple addition to the new website, and could help patrons keep track of the library news and current events posted there.

I would also suggest some sort of system-wide social media marketing policy in order to maintain consistency across the branches.  A common structure and professional guidelines for Facebook pages and other accounts would help to maintain the library's brand image no matter what branch's resource a patron is using.

Not all branches need to have Facebook profiles or Twitter accounts; in fact, it may be impractical for some of the very small branches.  But those that do have them should at least have links placed on their branch webpages.  Those webpages are currently patrons' primary online contact with the library.  Without links to profiles and accounts, how will patrons know they exist?  Also, some librarian somewhere in the system should be contactable by email for reference.  As it stands, the only way for a patron to ask a question is to either walk in or call the reference desk during normal business hours.

Whether through lack of desire, staff, knowledge, or funds (most likely funds), the Humboldt County Library system does not have much of a web presence.  However, it is encouraging that local branch libraries seem to be taking some initiative in creating their own online presences.  Hopefully their efforts will inspire the library system as a whole to take steps and make changes.  Especially in this rural setting, a solid online presence could be very helpful in reaching out to an often dispersed and isolated community.