Are you using social media to promote your library?
Yes: Excellent. See below for examples and ideas from other libraries.
Not yet: Great news! There are many tools you can choose or use them all!
Social media allows us to tell our library story–showcasing the many things that happen in the library. From teaching classes to facilitating book clubs to Makerspace activities, a library is the hub of the school and often gets overlooked by the community. By using social media, we can show that we are more than just ______ (insert one thing you do each day), but full of many activities that impact students and teachers.
Use 140 characters to show and tell the activity in your library. Add hashtags to get more people to read your tweet. Add images! Link to your resources.
- Post your Twitter name on the school newsletter and the library website.
- If you have a building Twitter account, ask that they follow you and retweet your posts, so parents will see your account.
- If your school district has an account, follow and ask that they follow you too.
- Don’t forget to follow other libraries and community organizations in the area.
Example:
Blue Valley North High School Library: https://twitter.com/bvnlibrary
Blue Valley North High School Library showcases the activities during the day from Breakout Edu to research paper due dates. From the list of tweets, we can see the impact this library has on the community.
Post images of your library and activities. Hashtags work great on Instagram too! When you view the Instagram user account at one time, it creates a great slideshow with the wonderful things happening in the library.
Example:
Barrow Media Center: https://www.instagram.com/barrowmediacenter/
Take a look at the images. It tells the story of an active environment with kids learning. Photos include student learning, projects, guest speakers, and even a screenshot of a Symbaloo activity.
I am going to stop here and not mention all the other social media sites available. Next month, I will take this idea a step further with If Then This That to promote your library in a variety of ways with one click.
Finally, if you are currently using social media, but not seeing the impact. View the checklist below for ideas.
Go to your Twitter stream or Instagram page. What images or tweets stand out to you?
- Provide descriptions or a link to more information.
- Include hashtags or images with Twitter posts.
- Follow others. (A great way to gain followers for your account.)
- Add users to your tweets. Include the @twitter_handle to your district’s Twitter account in a post.
Do you have a favorite library Instagram or Twitter account? (Hint: Yes, your own library account!) Post your Twitter or Instagram handle below.
Author: Becca Munson
Becca Munson, Librarian, is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 24 years of experience in education. Becca is the Coordinator for Library Systems in the Blue Valley School District. Previously, she was school librarian at Blue Valley West High School. She opened two buildings in Blue Valley and spent some time as an Ed Tech Specialist before returning to libraries. Becca supports over 45 librarians and support staff as they work to fulfill the mission of flexible scheduling, collaboration, and literacy.
Categories: Advocacy/Leadership, Blog Topics, Technology
Fantastic post! I just started using Twitter for my media center this year, and I’ve gotten a great response from parents. It’s such an easy way to keep parents and other members of the school community informed of the great things that are happening in the media center.
We held a naming contest with our senior Entrepreneurship class at the beginning of the school year to come up with our social media handles. It was a great opportunity for collaboration, and we ended up with a name I wouldn’t have come up with myself!
Check us out on Twitter & Instagram: @chsbookmasters
My students tweet at @bsmslib. They will begin blogging on a page on our bsmslibratory.weebly.com page.
As a new librarian, I find Twitter to be a fun, quick way to observe a wide variety of libraries inside and outside of my district and state. Right now I look forward most to @MrSchuReads for book talks and @LFlemingEDU for makerspace topics. It’s also fun to search around by #s like #librarylife or #makerspace. It’s fun to build connections through tweets.
@OHEWelde