V Międzynarodowa Konferencja Naukowa Nauka o informacji (informacja naukowa) w okresie zmian Innowacyjne usługi informacyjne. Wydział Dziennikarstwa, Informacji i Bibliologii Katedra Informatologii, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warszawa, 15 – 16 maja 2017

1. Towards open innovation of
services using social media : the
case of French academic libraries
Emmanuelle CHEVRY PÉBAYLE
lecturer, (LISEC EA 2310, F-67000 Strasbourg, University of Strasbourg)
Maher SLOUMA
post-doctor, (Laboratoire Techné EA 6316, University of Poitiers, France)
The 4th International Scientific Conference
Information Science in the Age of Change

2. 1. Introduction
• Why social media?
– Predominant place in various organizations
– Recognized worldwide (Chu & Nalani-Meulemans,
2008).
– To promote their library holdings, maintain a link
with their users (Chu & Du, 2013)
– Create online communities (Boyd & Ellison, 2007)
and involve users in their processes of innovation

3. 1. Introduction
• Task : How the presence of academic libraries
on social media promotes the emergence of
innovative services?

4. Plan
1. Introduction
2. State of the art
3. Hypothetis
4. Methodology
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion

5. 2. State of the art
• Innovation is "the ability to respond
creatively to an identified need, creating
value and ensuring appropriation by its
recipients. In this respect, innovation is more
than invention, which does not imply
acceptance, whereas innovation incorporates
use value, value of esteem and exchange
value [...] ". (Groff, 2012).

6. 2. State of the art
• Few literature on innovation and academic libraries.
• Important assets for academic libraries (Kenchakkanavar,
2015), in particular to promote them (O’Dell, 2010 ; Chu &
Du, 2013) or facilitate collaboration between librarians
(Graham, 2009).
• Chu et al. (2010) show the advantage of Facebook in
comparison to other social media.
• Chen et al. (2011) seek to identify the performance of
Facebook as an interaction tool between libraries and their
users.
• Connell underlines the complexity of studying the users’ and
the librarians’ behavior on social media.
• Open innovation in academic libraries (Scupola & Nicolajsen,

7. Chesbrough Von Hippel
Scupola & Nicolajsen Coutant et al
State of the art
Innovation

8. Definition of open innovation
Chesbrough (2006)
• « The Open Innovation paradigm can be understood as
the antithesis of the traditional vertical integration
model where internal research and development
activities lead to internally developed products that
are then distributed by the firm […]. Open Innovation is
the use of purposive inflows and outflows of
knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and
expand the markets for external use of innovation,
respectively. Open Innovation is a paradigm that
assumes that firms can and should use external ideas
as well as internal ideas, and internal and external
paths to market, as they look to advance their
technology (Chesbrough, 2006, p. 1) ».

9. Von Hippel (2001)
• Von Hippel (2001) encourages users to be truly
free to innovate, to take their ideas and
suggestions into account, to accept the mistakes
of others and to enrich their ideas with
recognition and consideration.
• Users' proposals could be enriched in an iterative
way. They can create a first design, make a
prototype, test it and evaluate it to improve it
until it achieves a satisfactory result.

10. Coutant et al., 2012
• The work of (Coutant et al., 2012) on
sociotechnical devices is consistent with this
logic, which considers that users are essential
actors of innovation
• 2 problems :
– Confidentiality of the internal data
– Intellectual property on ideas

11. The singularity of this study
1. Provide relevant data on open innovation of
library services from the users’ and the
professionals’ point of view.
2. Enrich the literature on the topic.

12. 3. Hypothesis
The presence of libraries on
digital social networks
promotes open innovation in
the sense of Chesbrough
(2003).

13. 4. Methodology
Semi-structured interviews
• with librarians in charge of communication of the first three most
popular academic libraries on Facebook and Twitter in France :
• University of Aix-Marseille (8679 subscribers)
• University of Strasbourg (8275 abonnés) => U2/U3 library (1956
subscribers)
• National and university library of Strasbourg (BNU) (6910
subscribers)
• Students from the same libraries
1 questionnaire : 137 users have responded
• 4 themes: (1) social link in the library on the social media, (2)
motivations of a presence on Facebook, (3) transformations imposed
on the librarian's profession and (4) digital mediation strategies.

14. 5. Results
1. IDENTIFIED NEEDS
2. A NEW FORM OF COMMUNICATION
3. INTERESTS OF THIS NEW FORM OF
COMMUNICATION

15. Why did you subscribe to the Facebook page of
the academic library°? (137 results)
=> 5.1. Identified needs
3%
7%
7%
10%
11%
12%
19%
19%
20%
28%
38%
54%
65%
Stay in contact with users
Inquire remotely by the online Q & A service (Ubib ...)
Ask questions to professionnals
Communicate with librarians
Consult the catalogue
Others
Make a return on the animations
Follow open discussions with users
Exercise a watch in my field
Have fun (quizzes, games, riddles, unusual publications, backstage)
Be part of the academic library community
Maintaining a link with the academic library
Check the opening and closing hours

16. 5.2. A NEW FORM OF COMMUNICATION
• To achieve these goals, institutional communication should make way for a
form of communication that is completely new to librarians, both in terms
of form and content. One of the professionals explains the importance of
“opening one's bowels, daring to use the ‘I’, coming down off one's
pedestal, accepting to put one's personality forward, accepting the FB
language, accepting to talk about it without the fear of being judged,
being able to convince colleagues to spread information on their personal
social media accounts (viral communication)” [interview 2]. In order to
progress, “we would have to bring a group of users into our house so they
feel honored. Offering them a life that they can share [...] not to limit
themselves to institutional information, creating a community [...]”
[interview 2].
• Adopting the FB language requires acquiring new skills that are not part of
the librarian's basic skills, but the ones of the transformations imposed by
the social media and the digital in general. The interviews reveal that
professionals are keen on having the necessary skills to create a social link
with their users via the social media and are ready to make efforts.

17. Explain why you feel part of a community by following your academic
library on Facebook (69 answers)
=> 5.3. Interests of this new form of communication
7%
7%
16%
27%
46%
51%
Others
It shows that I am a frequent visitor
My needs are taken into account (emotional attachment)
My questions are answered and information is provided
It enables to have a follow-up of the daily events
It creates a group that belongs to a place

18. 7. DISCUSSION
• 2 ways to innovate. "The first is to offer new
services [...]; the second is to modify the
servuction, which can be defined as the
modalities of offering a service.”
• Innovation can be simply inventing new ways
of doing things. Gilbert (2011, p. 34),
• Results of the study : Facebook do not create
new services but rather renew the way it
presents them to users.

19. 7. Discussion
• Entertainment and the use of play information => a
prominent place in the activities of librarians
• True innovation according to Groff (2012)
– it responds creatively to a need of users as shown in fig. 1.
– Appropriation : ¾ of respondents consider that Facebook
and digital social networks favor the social bond because
• more interactions (62%) and more exchanges (52%).
• create a sense of belonging (51%) and
• lead to more entertainment (26%).
• Users’ satisfaction (88%) of the communication of their academic
library on Facebook (fig. 3).

20. How Facebook and digital social
networks favor social bond°?
2%
26%
52%
51%
51%
62%
Ohers
More entertainment
More exchange
More collaborations
Create a sens of belonging
More interactions

21. Do you consider that the community manager of your academic library
Facebook page post messages regularl, uses a light tone, shows his
personality, uses the Facebook language, takes live events? "

22. 6. Discussion
Consequences
• Put the user at the core of their interests.
• A change in image of the librarian career.
– New skills required

23. Conclusion
• Social media facilitate exchanges between
librarians and users.
– lesser institutional aspect
– Comments and suggestions of ideas to librarians more
easily
• Some services and functions can only exist
through these means of communication
• Not radical innovations but
• Development of some services that cannot be
done elsewhere.
• Ultimate tool to generate ideas by the users

24. Thank you for your attention.
chevry@unistra.fr
slouma@univ-tln.fr