Libraries, Librarians, and Social Media

Balancing the personal and professional in social networking

Me

Leah L. WhiteReader Services LibrarianNorthbrook Public LibraryTwitter: @leahlibrarianTumblr: yolaleah.tumblr.comFB: facebook.com/yolaleahSite: leahlwhite.com

Why am I here?http://www.slideshare.net/btench/becoming-an-agent-of-change-in-your-organization

The Plan

• Why be social?

• Who runs the accounts?

• What to join?

• Tips and advice

• Specific sites and examples to steal from

Why be social?

• Personal

• Keep in touch

• Fun!

• Crowd-source ideas and collaborate

• Good for your career

Why be social?

• Institutional

• Varies

• Create meaningful relationships with your patrons

• Remind people about services

• Increase use of services

What to join? OMG SO MANY!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrismenning/the-x-all-the-y-meme

There are networks for everything.

But not for everyone.

What is your goal? Articulate it. Practice it.

Northbrook Public Library Goals

• Increase awareness of library services

• Promote and encourage an ongoing dialog with our community

• Reach out to the members of our community who are not physically in the building

• Interact with our patrons in a fun and positive way

My favorites for libraries and librarians

Time Management

Time management

• Trust your social media committee

• This is why you have multiple people in charge! Also why selection is important

• Use social media tools

• Hootsuite - schedule posts on multiple accounts

• SocialBro - real-time analytical for your Twitter account

• Tweetdeck - Chrome extension for Twitter use, schedule tweets, and nice functionality over the web version

Tips and Advice

The Golden Rule Harsh but true.

Listen to Spiderman.Ask yourself, “Could this posting get me fired?” If the answer is yes, then don’t post it.

http://d37nnnqwv9amwr.cloudfront.net/photos/images/original/000/206/250/think%20before%20you%20post.png

Dealing with Inappropriate Content

• Personal

• Check in with your account

• Delete the comment

• Send a message

• Institutional

• Have a policy

• Enforce and follow it

• Create two policies

• One for patrons

• Posting guidelines and rules for commenting

• One for staff

• Some people don't know Leah's Golden Rule of the Internet

On policies

Different sites have different cultures.

Be a lurker. Learn about the site before you jump in.

When in doubt, use pictures

Don't be afraid of memes People love them.

• Don’t be an idiot.

• Articulate your social networking goals.

• Join the networks that help you achieve your goals.

• Have fun!

All things considered

Thank you! psst follow me! @leahlibrarian

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theilluminated/5386099858/