?Tell us a little bit about yourself, your career to date
I started at the Parkland Library 5 years ago as an administrative assistant. Back then I only managed the Library’s blog by writing weekly articles about Library events or services. Over time, as I proved my interest and aptitude for writing, editing, designing, and sharing information and was given more responsibility using those skills. This past year, my primary job duties (acquisitions and budget management) have decreased a bit due to Demand Driven Acquisitions and more efficient buying and budgeting tools. As a result, Anna Maria asked me to take on managing the Library’s marketing as part of my regular job duties.
?What ways do you see yourself as a diverse professional
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by diverse professional. In creating content for our social media or marketing pieces, we do try to make sure all cultures are represented appropriately. We remain neutral on political or controversial issues. Instead we focus on truth, data, credible sources, and the freedom to access information.
?Please describe how does social media improve the outreach services
Social media is just another platform to distribute information. Many patrons learn about new books and library services by seeing it on our social media accounts. We make sure our posts on social media align with the Library’s mission and can be connected to the Library. That might mean education about other cultures holidays or celebrations, it could be services available to Library patrons, it could be news about libraries in general.
What are the challenges that may face the librarian and libraries in using the social media ?
The challenges are that social media is always changing, so you really need somebody who can stay up to date with new trends and changing technology. Other challenges are figuring out who you’re marketing to (for us it’s current students, faculty, and staff primarily), learning what types of posts do well, and scheduling posts for optimal reach and engagement. We’ve learned that video is our best received medium, video posts consistently have the highest numbers of engagement. Photos of library employees are also popular, as well as questions.
What advice would you give to young professionals, especially those wanting to improve their outreach services by using social media ?
My advice would be to keep at it. Set some guidelines for the kind of information you want to share, figure out who your target audience is, and re-evaluate your strategies often. Social media works best when you use it frequently. I follow several other libraries across the country to see what they’re doing and get ideas. Sometimes we even share their posts.
I hope that helps answer your questions. Social media can be a very fun and rewarding way to interact with your community. We are hosting a live video on Facebook today at 4, if you’d like to watch. It’s an experimental project we’re doing this summer. We’re going live every Tuesday at 4pm and each week will have a different theme.