A Survey on the Service of University Libraries in Shandong Province Based on the Perspective of WeChat Official Accounts
Liu Bingqiang1,2*, Norhayati Hussin1
1 Faculty of Information Management, UiTM Cawangan Selangor Kampus Puncak Perdana, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
2 Shandong Youth University of Political Science, East Campus, 250103, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 January 2022 | Published: 31 January 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2022.3.4.9
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Abstract: In the era of big data, WeChat official accounts have become an important way for university libraries to stretch their resources and improve their services. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the running states and the inter-library differences of the WeChat official accounts of university libraries in Shandong Province, China, this study took 16 university libraries in Shandong Province as the survey sample and mainly adopted the network survey method, statistical analysis method and comparative analysis method to investigate the running states of 16 WeChat official accounts. This study has found their existing problems and proposed the corresponding interventions.
Keywords: Information and Library Management, Library science, WeChat official account;
University Library; Service
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1. Introduction
The China Press and Publication Research Institute released the 18th National Reading Survey on April 23, 2021. The survey showed that in 2020, the contact rate of digital reading (online reading, cell phone reading, e-book reading, pad reading, etc.) of adults in China was 79.4%, the proportion of cell phone reading was 76.7%, and the per capita daily cell phone contact time was 100.75 minutes, with all three data having increased compared with 2019. In terms of age distribution, young and middle-aged people between 18 and 49 years old were still the majority of digital reading, with the highest percentage of people between 18 and 29 years old, reaching 31.0%. WeChat, which relies on cell phones, is no longer just a tool for people to communicate. It has gradually become the main way of reading with the advantages of mobility and convenience (Tan Rui, 2021).
WeChat is an app developed by Tencent that provides instant messaging services exclusively for intelligent terminals and it has a strong user base (Xiaonian Li, Zhao Zhi, 2017). According to the 2019 WeChat Data Report (https://www.sohu.com/a/365831531_499322, 2019), the number of monthly active users of WeChat reached 1.151 billion in September 2019. Cheng Cong et al. (2020) showed through a survey that WeChat had a high penetration rate of 96.5%
to 99.3% among college students in all grades.
WeChat reading has rapidly changed the way of information acquisition and transmission in
official accounts, which greatly impact the readers. In October 2021, the number of WeChat public libraries approved by China's "Qingbo Intelligence" big data platform has exceeded 1000 (www.gsdata.cn, 2021). Although more and more university libraries have built WeChat official accounts, in Shandong Province, there are still some problems in the operation of WeChat official accounts (Zhang Jing, Wang Peng, Tian Yuan, 2019). By observing these official accounts, it was found that the WeChat official account of Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University and the WeChat official account of Shandong Police College had not released new information for nearly two months; the WeChat official account of Dezhou University and the WeChat official account of TaiShan University Library had low update frequency; the overall number of likes of the top 10 articles read in the past 30 days was low;
and the number of likes of three university libraries was lower than 10; indicating that the interactions between the readers and university libraries were not good.
This paper tries to investigate the current status and problems of WeChat official accounts of university libraries in Shandong Province, China; explore the optimizing strategy of WeChat official accounts; provide proven improvement measures to solve the existing problems; and provide a reference for better integration of university libraries and WeChat official accounts.
2. Literature review
Application and research of WeChat in Chinese university libraries
In China, the research on the application of WeChat in university libraries originated in 2013.
Huang Qiaojiao, Lei Guangying and Hu Zijuan (2013) first noticed the importance of WeChat in university library information services. Since then, the research in this field has developed rapidly and reached its peak in 2018. Some scholars believe that using WeChat can solve the existing problems in the information service systems of university libraries. Many scholars start from the perspective of the existing problems in the application of WeChat in university libraries and put forward solutions according to the observation and analysis. For example, Zhu Mengru (2013) proposed that the application of WeChat in university libraries had the problems of a single service mode and unsound networking system, and the technology needed to be improved. Xu Caixia and Wei Qiyu (2013) pointed out that there were problems in the WeChat official accounts of university libraries, such as the lack of management, single content and poor interaction. The research model of problem-measure has been formed. Through a survey, Huang Haobo (2014) analyzed the use of WeChat, the historical message pushing, the content of historical message pushing, and the use of self-service in Chinese university libraries. Since then, the scope of the research field has continued to expand, including the design of the WeChat official account of the university library, the promotion of WeChat and reading, brand marketing of WeChat official account, WeChat and user education, content construction of WeChat official account, communication index of WeChat official account, and others.
Application and research of WeChat in university libraries in Shandong Province
The research on WeChat official accounts of Shandong university libraries began in 2017. Zhu Heli (2017) analyzed the application of WeChat in 44 Shandong university libraries and concluded that there were problems, such as the lack of personalized services and lack of maintainers. After 2017, four studies were published on WeChat official accounts of Shandong university libraries, and the research angles were paper editing skills, operation effects, and subject services. This shows that there have been few studies on the application of WeChat in Shandong university libraries.
3. Survey and analysis results
According to the National List of Institutions of Higher Learning published by China's Ministry of Education (2020), there were 70 colleges and universities in Shandong Province, China, including 44 public colleges and universities (http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020- 07/09/content_5525259.htm). Shandong University Library built its WeChat official account as early as 2013, which was the earliest university library in Shandong Province (Xie Xueshu et al., 2020), and the WeChat official account of Shandong University Library also represented the highest level among Shandong university libraries. In order to discover the general level of university libraries in Shandong Province, 16 university libraries were selected as the subjects of this paper. They were Jining Medical University, Dezhou University, Binzhou University, TaiShan University, Jining University, Heze University, Zaozhuang University, Weifang University, Shandong Police College, Shandong Jiaotong University, Shangdong Women's University, Shandong University of Political Science and Law, Qilu Normal University, Shandong Youth University of Political Science, Shandong Management University, and Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University. The reason for selecting these 16 universities was to improve the balance of the sample and the quality of the survey. The survey period was from August 1, 2021 to October 23, 2021. The survey items included opening time, the number of articles, top 10 reading quantity in the last 30 days, and top 10 likes in the previous 30 days.
Table 1: Survey of WeChat official accounts of Shandong university libraries Serial
number School Opening
time
The number
of articles
Monthly average
update frequency
Top 10 reading quantity in recent 30 days
Top 10 likes in recent 30
days
1 Jining Medical University 2014.12.16 58 19.33 5870 289
2 Dezhou University 2017.09.08 5 1.67 483 6
3 Binzhou University 2017.01.03 27 9.00 1026 22
4 TaiShan University 2017.03.28 5 1.67 1710 15
5 Jining University 2015.06.01 51 17.00 5794 221
6 Heze University 2017.10.17 13 4.33 5027 46
7 Zaozhuang University 2021.03.10 11 3.67 320 13
8 Weifang University 2019.11.18 7 2.33 3808 18
9 Shandong Police College 2015.09.09 0 0.00 0 0
10 Shandong Jiaotong
University 2017.11.20 40 13.33 1348 19
11 Shangdong Women's
University 2014.04.30 42 14.00 3530 73
12 Shandong University of
Political Science and Law 2015.07.01 35 11.67 4973 76
13 Qilu Normal University 2016.06.29 23 7.67 3685 63
14 Shandong Youth University
of Political Science 2019.08.29 9 3.00 2607 26
15 Shandong Management
University 2020.11.05 12 4.00 1764 21
16 Shandong Agriculture and
Engineering University 2018.03.01 1 0.33 0 0
1) Opening time
The opening times of WeChat official accounts of the 16 university libraries surveyed were distributed from 2014 to 2021. The earliest one was the Shandong Women's College Library, which was opened in April 2014, and the latest one was the Zaozhuang University Library, which was opened in March 2021. According to the survey results, the opening rate of WeChat official accounts in 16 university libraries was 100%. This shows that these schools have recognized the importance of WeChat in the information services, but the time span also shows that this recognition is a gradual process.
2) The number of articles and update frequency
The 16 university libraries showed obvious disparities in the number of articles. The two libraries with the highest quantity of articles were Jining Medical University and Jining University, with a monthly update frequency of 19.77 and 17, respectively, which meant that they could publish articles every day if we did not count for vacation time. The library with the least quantity of articles was Shandong Police College, with zero. From the number of articles issued and the frequency of updates, we can see that the two university libraries in Jining were significantly higher than other university libraries.
3) Reading quantity and likes
The survey counted the read quantity and likes of the top 10 articles of the 16 university libraries in the past 30 days. It was found that the most read and liked were in Jining Medical University Library and Jining University Library, and the least were in Shandong Police College Library and Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University Library. From this perspective, the number of posts shows a positive correlation with reading quantity and likes.
4) Problems
4.1 Large interlibrary gap and unbalanced development
From the number of articles, reading quantity and likes, we could observe an obvious gap between the 16 university libraries, and there were some regional differences. The two universities in the Jining area, Jining Medical University and Jining University ranked at the top in all data. Due to the low quantity of articles, the Shandong Police College Library and the Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University Library had zero reads and likes. Their WeChat official accounts were almost useless, which wasted resources in vain.
4.2 Low information push frequency
The quantity of articles represents the activity of the WeChat official account. The low information push frequency easily leads to a decline in users' attention (Jiang Ting et al., 2021).
The monthly update frequency of WeChat official accounts of the Shandong university libraries was generally not high, and only five of them posted articles more than ten times per month. Studies have shown that the update frequency of WeChat official accounts positively affects users’ willingness to continue using them (Zhao Naixuan et al., 2019), and it is likely that the existing users will gradually give up using WeChat official accounts if these official accounts do not pay attention to the update frequency.
4.3 Homogenization and lack of personalized itemsThere are four main types of content modules of WeChat official accounts in Shandong university libraries: notice and announcement (lecture report, data report, library schedule), resource recommendation (book, audio and video), theme activities, and series (Jiang Ting et al., 2021). Because the main functions of university libraries are similar, the content construction is prone to homogeneity,
the content types are single and repeated, there are few outstanding features and personalized content designs, and the innovation and creativity are lacking (Qi A-yang, 2019).
4.4 Lack of interaction with users
In many cases, the WeChat official account of the university library has become a platform for the library to distribute information unilaterally. There are few interactive activities. Giving a like is an interactive way loved by college students (Du Pengnuo, 2021). From the statistics, only two schools had more than 100 likes while ten schools had less than 30 likes, showing that the interaction between the WeChat official accounts and users was insufficient.
4. Measures and suggestions
Strengthen management and increase the investment
These 16 colleges and universities are all managed by the education department of the Shandong government. The government should strengthen the policy support, increase the investment of funds and material resources, and regulate the management. The government should set the basic requirements for the operation of university libraries' WeChat official accounts to ensure an effective operation and to provide information services for students. On the other hand, the library association should provide professional support and guidance, and the university libraries should be encouraged to develop more distinctive and personalized content modules to attract students to love and use the WeChat official accounts. With the cooperation of the government and academic community, the framework of WeChat official accounts could be constructed to provide a reference for future theoretical research and practical application.
Fix posting frequency and time
The WeChat official accounts of university libraries should improve the problem of the low frequency of posting. If the frequency of posting is low, it is easy for readers to forget it.
Regular posting frequency can help users develop a habit and make it easier to accept WeChat official accounts. In addition, pushing articles at a fixed time can also help users create a habit.
For college students, lunch and dinner times are suitable for reading fragmented information.
Optimize content construction
Content construction is the core of the WeChat official account. It can provide informative content to the users in order to increase its attractiveness. First of all, the content should be original, which can be the initial reading guidance and criticism for a book, or the content such as reading notes. In addition, the content quality should be high. Secondly, the content should be combined with the college students' studies and life. The third is the diversity of content forms. It is best for the WeChat official accounts to comprehensively use text, pictures, audio, video and other content forms.
Improve interaction
The purpose of WeChat official accounts of university libraries is to enable users to better use information services. Therefore, WeChat official accounts should strengthen the interactions with users. For example, when carrying out an activity, the WeChat official accounts can be used to vote to stimulate the students' enthusiasm for using it. Regularly conducting satisfaction surveys is beneficial to find out the problems that arise in using the official accounts. Building a library community based on the WeChat official account is critical so that users with the same hobbies can post comments and communicate in the virtual community.
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