Top 3 "Pinteresting" Resources

Here are three top resources about Pinterest in academic libraries:
Dudenhoffer, Cynthia. “Visualizing Information With Pinterest.” Using Social Media in Libraries. (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2013) 23-35.  

Dudenhoffer describes the use of Pinterest at the small Central Methodist University to market new books and technology. Included are brief sections about managing the tool, copyright issues, and educational use. This is one chapter in a book with many other essays about social media, and I recommend it to anyone else looking for information about social media tools in libraries.

Thornton, Elaine. “Is Your Academic Library Pinning? Academic Libraries and Pinterest.” Journal of Web Librarianship 6, no. 3 (July 2012): 164-175.

Thornton examines the Pinterest pages of 57 academic libraries, and discusses how academic libraries can take advantage of Pinterest’s unique functionality. This article is particularly useful because it includes a list of 7 descriptive recommendations for best practices based on research.

Richardson, Rebecca, et. al. “A Mightier Pin: Creating a Credible Reference Library on Pinterest  at Murray State University.” Internet Reference Services Quarterly 18, no. 3-4 (2013): 247-264. Web. Accessed March 30, 2014.

This case study of Murray State University in Kentucky discusses the use of pinterest to promote online resources owned by the university. This university is a good example of how libraries can build a reference section of their library on social media. Their findings are backed up with data, and it provides an in-depth look and analysis of Murray State’s Pinterest page.