In today’s society technology is an integral part of everyday life. At times it seems like people are giving preference to social media rather than to the conventional methods of communication, especially when it relates to seeking information. Students are no different, kids today are growing up with technology at their fingertips and they prefer to use social media. Since technology is so popular today, schools have begun to use social media as a way to reach a bigger audience. There are now school libraries that are also jumping on the bandwagon and creating social media accounts such as Facebook.
As I looked through the Facebook pages of several of the school libraries I noticed that the content of the pages was similar even though they were completely different schools, located in several parts of the country, and serving different grade levels. The school libraries used their Facebook pages to announce information, highlight library activities, feature books and authors, and they also posted articles pertaining to ways books and libraries positively impact education. I did notice that even though the libraries were actively posting pictures and articles on their pages, there weren’t many likes or comments on their posts. Therefore I concluded that even though school libraries are embracing social media, they have not yet found a way to effectively promote their libraries’ social media accounts. I did find that the information on their pages was very important and relevant and would be very helpful if more people took advantage of them.
There are advantages and disadvantages to having Facebook accounts associated with school libraries. One advantage is open communication between the school library with the parents and students. The library can easily promote and highlight upcoming library events and activities to a greater number of people and it is a lot faster than sending flyers or letters home. Another advantage is the library can reach a greater audience by using social media to promote itself. Using Facebook is very time efficient because it requires so little time to post information. Another advantage is it attracts students to visit the library’s social media page and that helps bring in more to students to the library which will in turn increase circulation. Although there are advantages to having Facebook pages for school libraries there are also disadvantages. One disadvantage is that not all students and parents have access to the internet. For example, I work at a school in which the majority of my students are economically disadvantaged so they don’t have access to the internet when they are at home. These students and their parents would not be able to access the school library social media page when they are at home. Another disadvantage to using a Facebook page to promote the school library is safety. Some school districts do not allow pictures of students to be posted on the internet for safety reasons, therefore this would limit what a school library can post. For example, if the library had an event like a reading book club meeting they might not be able to post any pictures of the students participating in the event if their district doesn’t allow the use of student photos on the internet. Not being able to show students actively engaged in the library is not effective when trying to promote the school library.
As technology continues to advance and grow more school libraries will probably find the need look at social media as a way to actively promote themselves. More and more school libraries are finding themselves in a position in which they have to prove and defend why school libraries are so crucial to education. Budget cuts are hurting libraries and in order to avoid them school libraries need to come up with creative ways to promote their libraries and create an active place of learning.
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