“Is it like academia.edu?”: Faculty perceptions and usage of academic social networking sites and implications for librarians and institutional repositories

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which academic librarians can harness faculty familiarity with and curiosity about academic social networking sites (ASNS) in order to promote engagement with the institutional repository (IR). Highlighting significant similarities and differences between the IR and the popular ASNS Academia.edu – specifically in the areas of open access and discoverability, business model, user experience, and support – the paper then presents the key findings of a questionnaire administered to faculty at a single institution asking about their usage habits of ASNS and the IR and their motivation for engaging (or not) with each. Faculty who use ASNS identified accessing, reading, and sharing work as their primary motivations; those who do not use the sites attributed their nonuse to a lack of awareness and time. The top reported reasons for using the IR were downloading work and arranging for the deposit of student work, while skepticism and misconceptions about its benefits prevent others from interacting with the IR. The paper concludes by outlining ways in which librarians can work with faculty to create greater understanding of and engagement with the IR.