SLIS 761 Post #6 - Social Media and School Libraries

I think that it is safe to say that social media is becoming an important tool for the sharing of information. According to the Pew Research Center (2021), "Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves" (para. 1). Sharing information and engaging users are two very important aspects of library service, so it seems that social media has the potential to help fulfill and improve on a library’s ability to carry out those services. The social media tool that I have chosen for the fictional library that I created is Instagram (username: cedarbayllc).

I have been an Instagram user ever since it was first released for Android. Initially, for me, what made Instagram stand out from other social media platforms was it’s focus on sharing pictures and the interesting filters that you could apply to them. Over the years, they have added more and more features to the program, but I feel like the emphasis has remained on the sharing of pictures. It’s this visual aspect of Instagram that I find to be more engaging than what is offered by Facebook or Twitter. Snapchat is another platform that focuses on images, but between it and Instagram, I think that Instagram is a little more intuitive and less intimidating for first time users. I still recall the first time that I tried to use Snapchat and had to resort to Googling how to guides for it.

In the article, Instagram Now: Engage Young Users With the Image-Based Social Media Tool, Molly Wetta (2016) begins by stating that, “A recent survey affirmed that Instagram is the most popular social media network for teenagers” (p. 30). That article though, was written before TikTok was crowned the most popular social media website in 2021 (Rosenblatt, 2021). Six years after Wetta’s article, I feel like the parents of elementary school-age children are becoming more reflective of the age demographic that favors Instagram and since my website serves children in elementary school, it seems like a good tool that will complement the website well. Additionally, I feel like the images will make for a more engaging experience for the younger children when their parents share posts with them.

Post #1: School mascot

Content that I intend to share through the Instagram account will be events, announcements from fellow educators, book recommendations, and fun photos of the library and students using its services. An example of how this can support instruction can be found in my second post on the account. In that post, I shared the title of Read Across America’s book of the month for March and in the comments section I posted the URL for Read Across America’s page about that book. Following that link leads to a wealth of teaching resources for that title, including reasons for why you might have a child read it, discussion questions, and a link to a common core curriculum guide for it.

Post #2: Book recommendation

Being a social media service, the library’s Instagram account will give parents, students, and fellow educators a direct line of communication with myself, through comments on posts and direct messages sent to the account. The account can also serve as a tool to advocate for the library by providing a snapshot of everything that the library has to offer the students through the literal snapshots of the students enjoying the services. Joyce Valenza (2015) suggests in her article, Evolving With Evidence: Leveraging New Tools for EBP, that “Synthesized evidence of a school librarian’s effectiveness can be presented by means of digital storytelling, an interactive poster, or an infographic” (p. 43). The pictures shared will be helpful in telling that story, and hopefully it is one that we all enjoy.

References

Pew Research Center. (2021, April 7). Social media fact sheet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/

Rosenblatt, K. (2021, December 22). TikTok surpasses Google as most popular website of the year, new data suggests. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-surpasses-google-popular-website-year-new-data-suggests-rcna9648

Valenza, J. K. (2015). Evolving with evidence: Leveraging new tools for EBP. Knowledge Quest, 43(3), 36-43.

Wetta, M. (2016, February). Instagram now: Engage young users with the image-based social media tool. School Library Journal.