Redesigning archive literacy service by using social media as a tool: Cases in Japan archive centers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the type of social media tools used in archive centers; and to analyse the scope of using social media in archival literacy. The study employed a qualitative research methodology. Primary data were collected through a structured open and close-ended questionnaire from person in-charge/planning manager/manager/director of the prefecture, municipal, city, and university archive centers in Japan. A total of 92 questionnaires had been distributed, and 68 (75.56%) responses were collected for analysis. Results show that the National Archives of Japan (NAJ) has a good number of twitter and Facebook followers along with a good number of the subscribers of YouTube and RSS. So far, though prefecture and municipal archive centers use social media and other web-based tools, most of them provide only basic information about their archival center. They do not evaluate and utilize users' feedback for revitalizing their service. The study proposed an interactive archive literacy model integrating users, archive centers, and social media tools to make the user literate.