This study investigated the use of WhatsApp as the platform for providing services at Mzuzu University Library in Malawi.,The researchers conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with five librarians that were either working or had worked at the reference desk for a period of not less than six months. Furthermore, the researchers did a content analysis of WhatsApp posts from the two tablet computers deployed at the reference desk. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, while the quantitative data were analysed using scientific calculators.,Findings revealed that WhatsApp has successfully been used to provide a number of user and reference services to students and staff. Notwithstanding this, a number of technical, human resource and service-related factors were discovered to be affecting the delivery of services and hence need to be addressed. It is therefore recommended that library management should take steps to address these challenges to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.,WhatsApp is one of the most popular social media applications that is deployed by many people including organisations at minimal cost in many countries. This makes it an ideal platform for offering information services to library clients on campus and remote places around the clock. Consequently, this could lead to increased usage of resources and services resulting in greater satisfaction among users.,Studies focussing on the use of WhatsApp for academic purposes in Malawi abound in the literature. However, this is the first study focussing on the use of WhatsApp for providing library reference services to be undertaken not only at Mzuzu University Library but the entire academic library sector in Malawi.

中文翻译：

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学术图书馆中社交媒体的激增：使用 WhatsApp 作为提供图书馆服务的平台

本研究调查了使用 WhatsApp 作为马拉维姆祖祖大学图书馆提供服务的平台。研究人员对五位正在或曾在咨询台工作过一段时间的图书馆员进行了深入的半结构化访谈。不到六个月。此外，研究人员对来自部署在咨询台的两台平板电脑的 WhatsApp 帖子进行了内容分析。定性数据按主题进行分析，而定量数据则使用科学计算器进行分析。调查结果显示，WhatsApp 已成功用于为学生和教职员工提供多项用户和参考服务。尽管如此，一些技术、发现人力资源和与服务有关的因素正在影响服务的提供，因此需要加以解决。因此，建议图书馆管理人员应采取措施应对这些挑战，以确保高效和有效的服务交付。WhatsApp 是最受欢迎的社交媒体应用程序之一，在许多国家/地区以最低成本被许多人（包括组织）部署。这使其成为全天候为校园和偏远地区的图书馆客户提供信息服务的理想平台。因此，这可能会导致资源和服务的使用增加，从而提高用户的满意度。在马拉维，关于将 WhatsApp 用于学术目的的研究比比皆是。然而，