Lately I've noticed a few school library accounts popping up on the various social media sites I visit. I'm thrilled to see that, because the use of social media can certainly improve our communication with parents and the community.
It seems like everyone and their grandma (seriously) is finding their way onto social media sites. So why aren't more school libraries hopping on the social media bandwagon?
My guess would be that many school librarians are hesitant to create mainstream social media accounts for their libraries because a policy prohibits it. That's the reason I've never made any social media accounts for any libraries I've worked in. Why do such policies exist in today's social media-driven world? I do understand some concerns, like underage students creating social media accounts, but are these strict policies doing more harm than good?
In the world we live in, I think it's naive for districts to think they can dodge social media altogether. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people reading this post have a personal social media account of some kind, so doesn't it make sense that our libraries and/or schools would have a social media page as well? Maybe some people choose not to create a school library social media account because they don't want to blur the lines between their personal and professional life, which I can understand.
Check out this recent post on schools and social media from School Library Journal. Every school district needs to rethink their social media strategy to meet today's standards.
What are your thoughts on this? If you have a social media page for your library, what do you use it for? Have you found it has improved communication with parents (since elementary students are too young to create accounts on most sites)? If you don't have a social media page for your library, what's stopping you from creating one? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Carrie says
Most social media sites are age restricted. I'd like to have an account but feel that maybe parents instead of students being the primary audience.
Kari says
I have thought about having a Facebook page for my elementary school but haven't since the vast majority of our population does not have internet at home. Most familied have a phone with data so I am working on getting them to use the library website and the links there and hope to try social media after that...we'll see. If anyone has ideas for implementing social media that works with a population like mine I'd love to hear about them!
Kaline says
Three days before you made this post, I finally got permission in my district to have a Facebook Page for my K-4 library. It took about a month to get permission, and I made a few posts, but then stopped until it got promoted. That took another two weeks. Yesterday, there was a blurb I'd written for it in our school newletter.
So far, only one person has "liked" the Page, so I'll have to wait and see if it takes off. I'd like to use it to keep families informed of what their students are doing in the library, when library planned/sponsored events are coming up, and to share links for books/websites/etc. that I think would be interesting to our families.
I'm looking forward to opening up the lines of communication, and if it works out well, I'll also start a Page from the 5-8 middle school I'm at for part of each week. I don't have as much to share down there, though, which is why I started with the elementary school.