School Libraries and Social Media
With all of the social media sites that are available right now, schools have begun to create accounts. School librarians are often the ones who are in charge of keeping up with these accounts so it is important to stay current on what is appropriate and useful when posting information. Some of the most popular sites that are being utilized by librarians include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I will be discussing some of the advantages and disadvantages to being on each site.
I looked at several different school Facebook pages to determine what types of things they post about. Some ideas included:
- Bulletin board ideas and photos
- Posts about new books being added to a library
- Questions about how to use specific books in lessons
- Ideas for author visits
- Photographs of library layouts
- Links to products being sold on Teachers Pay Teachers
One specific Facebook group that I am a part of is called Learning Librarians and it is run by Cari White. She is also the owner of one of the blogs I posted about last time. You have to ask permission to join the Facebook group but it is worth it. There are tons of ideas posted on there.
When considering the advantages and disadvantages of a librarian using Facebook, here are the conclusions I came to. Using Facebook can be good because many people are familiar with it and already have accounts. This is helpful because these people can follow the posts by the librarian. Additionally, there are many groups that one can join or follow to gather ideas. A librarian can learn many things from looking at other library pages. The use of Facebook might not be good because more and more people are starting to use newer social media sites. Younger parents and students may not be on Facebook so they may not always see information that is posted there.
When browsing through Twitter, I began to follow several people who are librarians or technology experts. These include John Schu (librarian), Paul Hankins (teacher), Linda Braun (consultant and educator), Gwyneth Jones (social media consultant), and Jim Lerman (educator and author). After reading many posts from each of these people, it is obvious to me that they all have a lot of knowledge to share. While a few of them (Paul Hankins and Gwyneth Jones) like to share personal photos of their dogs and favorite movies/songs, the majority of the posts have to do with books, libraries or technology. Some of the common ideas posted include how to handle book complaints, summaries of new books that were read, lists of various ways to use technology, and different videos of library related ideas. Below are some of the tweets from each person listed above.
1. Jim Lerman @jimlerman (Likes to post all kinds of lists that can be useful for librarians)
https://twitter.com/jimlerman/status/1594736985968607232?s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
2. Gwyneth Jones @GwynethJones (Likes to post all types of things including personal, books she reads, and technology)
https://twitter.com/GwynethJones/status/1621486696779882497s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
https://twitter.com/GwynethJones/status/1612554462089940992s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
3. Paul Hankins @PaulWHankins (Loves to post about his dog as well as books)
https://twitter.com/PaulWHankins/status/1611709194779910144s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
https://twitter.com/PaulWHankins/status/1619317657022636032s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
4. John Schu @MrSchuReads (likes to post about books)
https://twitter.com/SaadiaFaruqi/status/1622951214198722560s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
https://twitter.com/MrSchuReads/status/1623077438396792832s=20&t=PpRyKhOGvuMSjFby2BfMrw
When considering the advantages and disadvantages of a librarian using Twitter, I came to the following conclusions. Twitter is great to use because one can easily retweet a post that he/she likes and that tweet will appear on his/her home page. This helps to combine ideas from multiple people in one place. Additionally, Twitter seems to be a tad more popular than Facebook with the younger population. This might make it better for school librarians to use. In terms of disadvantages, Twitter has a limit on how many words can be tweeted at one time. Although that might not be an issue for many people, that is something that needs to be considered when deciding whether to use it as a platform for a library or school.
Instagram is probably the most popular social media site used by students among the three I have mentioned in this post. It is easy for them to post pictures and videos and then share them with limited commentary. This makes it a good platform for librarians to use when trying to stay connected with students and share information with them. Additionally, librarians can share pictures of books, library displays, bulletin boards, books, and activities with other librarians. Despite these advantages, I have found Instagram a little difficult to figure out. I recently joined and had some trouble determining how to start a post and embed a video. Other librarians in my age group might have the same problem with the site. Nevertheless, there are lots of cool ideas from other librarians that I would like to share below.
Book Display Ideas
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmMJRPTL4wP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Lesson Ideas
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmuHDK_M0oE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmvIyssan8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Book Reviews
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmvIyssan8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Book Reviews
Video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoSo072jk_Q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/kkbluetraveler/
Some bulletin board ideas that I love! See below:
And finally.... a link to my Instagram page.
