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Building Library Communities Through Social Media- Key Takeaways

 Being a middle school librarian myself, this article immediately caught my eye. I have always thought of the library as the "heart" of the school. It is a place where students and staff alike come together to collaborate and learn. Something you do not often see, however, is the use of social media in secondary-level academic libraries. There has been a huge shift in reading habits amongst the youth recently, being that they do not read and engage with storytelling like they used to. I think this shift started when I was in school, as YouTube and social media came into the limelight. We could suddenly stream anything we wanted from wherever we wanted. Books simply lost their flair for the younger generation, and with shortened attention spans, I find it to be a constant battle to get kiddos engaged with reading, especially reading for pleasure. I am hoping that the following takeaways from this article can help boost our overall reading engagement in the coming school year.

  • Intention and Consistency: if utilizing social media, the article makes it clear that posting should be intentional and consistent. Without these two things, engagement with social media may be lacking. 
  • Personality and Interactivity: posts should showcase the overall personality of the library and provide opportunities for individuals to interact with posted content, such as polls and Q&As. 
  • Know your Audience: when utilizing social media, you should be aware of who your target audience is and what it will take to engage them. 
  • Measuring Impact: both quantitative data via analytics and qualitative data via comments, DMs, and interactions should be taken into account to ensure the social media stays fresh and engaging. 
  • Building Community: frame the library as an active participant in the community, rather than an invisible presence behind a screen. 
The article reported that when these things were taken into account and enacted, the library's engagement quadrupled, which in turn led to more in-person engagement at the library. I hope we can use some of these tips and ideas to combine the library at my school with our overall school socials, that way we can avoid any legal issues that sometimes come with using social media in public school. 


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