The Power of Social Media for the School Library

I know as a future librarian I need to be the first in a line of front line advocates for my library. As Dr. Green states in her presentation, “Frontline advocates talk to others - colleagues, friends, neighbors, relatives and acquaintances - about their school library media center’s value to its students, teachers, families and community.” Social media can be a powerful tool in my quiver to instruct, communicate and advocate. 

As I look at the social media platforms that are popularly available to me to use professionally, I am not heartened, and to be quite honest, a bit afraid. As a GenXer, a parent of two school-aged children, and someone who works in both middle and high schools, I have various reasons for not wanting to openly embrace any of the social media outlets. They are as follows:

Twitter scares me with its tendency toward negativity. Elon Musk scares me with his new-found control over his definition of free speech. There is the promise of a future paid subscription fee which I would not likely pay myself or be budgeted for.

Tiktok scares me with its dancing. I know that’s not all there is to it, but it seems more geared toward a (much) younger crowd. But I know there is BookTok where teens get many book recommendations. But I feel like BookTok is also “for teens, by teens”. I could be wrong; convince me.

Snapchat scares me with its impermanence. Do librarians even use this platform? I feel like it would be a bit “cringey” for me to use it (to borrow a phrase from my teenager’s lingo). I question whether teens would follow me there.

Facebook is for old people, like me! There is talk of a future paid subscription via Meta, at which point I would likely drop it. So is it worth starting up now? I do like the idea of using it for amplification of my message for parents and administration. I also like Facebook’s ability to hive-mind with other librarians and professional networking/sharing. I see a lot of librarians sharing ideas via Facebook.

Instagram is currently used by teens AND old people. It combines the ease of a single picture with informative text and hashtags. I like the idea of tagging other school accounts (art, administration) as well as current authors, literacy experts, BookTok-ers. I love the idea of an account takeover by a student for a day to give them some agency. Nicki Robertson says, “We need to make a concerted effort to meet our varied audience where they are, instead of expecting to meet them in the location most convenient to us.” (2017, pg 26)

So that all said, I think that the two platforms that float to the top for me are Instagram and Facebook. I use them both personally, though not in a very active sense, more passively. So those are what I chose to pursue initially for this project. I know that some people use the platforms in a joint fashion, as in, they post to Instagram and it gets posted to Facebook, or they post to TikTok, and it shows up on Instagram or YouTube. So I think it might be fun and productive to have both a professional Facebook page and a school library Instagram account. Here is a link to Instagram instructions to make that happen.

I created an Instagram with my USC email, but will have to pretend to be a librarian, as I am not currently in that position. My name is YorkHighSchoolLibrary, and I will have a Facebook account that will amplify my messages there to parents, administrators and other librarians.

When I think about what my goals are for using social media, it would mimic the reasons I want to become a librarian: to get students in the library door so I can help them and host them, to get students interested in reading, to create a safe space for everyone, and to elevate students’ and staff’s levels of information literacy. Some posts I can see creating are:

new book display pictures or reels

special subject display introduction and explanation

pictures of the media center space

re-posts from favorite authors

occasional “teachable moments” from classes I am teaching in the library

Molly Wetta has a lot of relatable ideas in her recent article, “Instagram Now”. She makes using Instagram seem very easy. “Get creative and

take inspiration from other book lovers’ accounts—and don’t be

afraid to highlight music, movies, videogames, and more.” In other words, meet the students where they are. (2016)

I would hope that I can accomplish instruction, communication and advocacy with my use of Instagram as a non-invasive use of my precious teacher-librarian time. As Nikki Robertson states in her book, “Telling the stories of our school libraries isn’t bragging— it’s a celebration of the learning that is taking place in our schools. The stories are proof that an active, appropriately funded library with a certified school librarian is vital to our school communities.” (Robertson, 2017)

References

Green. (n.d.). SLIS 761 Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Advocate for the School Library [Google Slides]. iSchool, University of South Carolina. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rswnwL_QA16SjO3gE5KzLH26OeReTFxdJkJ3_xz8uYk/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00

Robertson, N.D. (2017). Connected librarians: tap social media to enhance professional development and student learning. International Society for Technology in Education. ProQuest Ebook Central. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/southcarolina/detail.action?docID=5880813.

Created from southcarolina on 2023-03-02 18:00:35.

Wetta, C. (February, 2016). Instagram now: engage young users with the image based social media tool. School Library Journal, 62(2), 30-32.