I searched Facebook and came up with a sampling of six school library pages from different regions in the United States and two each from the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Although all six pages share some similarities in some of their posts, it's plain to see which librarians are at an expert level in their Facebook promotional measures and which are still at the fledgling phase.
All of the libraries used Facebook to spread the word and encourage interest in library-sponsored events. Book Fair was the most common event to be promoted, which is no surprise because it's a huge fundraiser for the library and one that usually already gets a good amount of participation in most schools. Most of the pages utilized Facebook to remind students that library books were due, some even used clever memes (Rayburn Middle School and Islip High School) or videos (Curry Elementary School) to get this point across to Facebookers. Surprisingly, not as many book recommendations wound up on the Facebook pages as I would have expected. Summer reading programs (or even hours of operation during the summer for the library of Pocola Elementary School) were discussed on a few pages. Some posted data regarding how many books were checked out, which were most popular, and Goldenview Middle School actually updated users with stats for a campus reading competition. A couple of the school libraries including Moreau Catholic High School and Islip High School are very much into the "maker movement" and have "maker faires" in which students can show off the products they make and the results of these faires and solicitation for participation was communicated on the libraries' Facebook pages.
Of the six samples I viewed, the Facebook pages that I felt were consistently updated with relevant information most frequently were Rayburn and Islip. I learned so much about what these libraries value and the experiences their users enjoy from their Facebook posts (not to mention a slew of ideas)! A library account I found still in the early stages was Pocola. After viewing the posts on this page, I got the impression that the librarian was struggling with separating the use of the page to promote the library and herself. The majority of the posts related to the library in some way, but she also posted some things that I thought would be better suited for a personal page. For instance, she posted gifts and the names of the students that gave them to her, I thought that was a little tacky. I know she was probably just trying to show her gratitude by acknowledging them publicly on social media. My school district is very strict about sharing photos of students on Facebook, perhaps her district is more lax about this. She also discussed books she was rereading that were not appropriate to her library's grade level (PK-5). The books she pictured and discussed are young adult pieces. I wish I could tell her to do this assignment without being tacky myself.
I believe Facebook is an excellent method of marketing a school library. The grade level you serve determines the potential of the audience size you reach. Obviously in an elementary setting your primary audience will be parents, staff members, and interested community members, maybe perhaps the exceptional (yet underage) student who has either a) had a parent create a Facebook account for him/herself or b) secretly created an account on his/her own. Student participation on a library Facebook page is likely to increase at the middle and high school levels as the ownership of Facebook accounts increase. The key to using Facebook for library promotion is to get the word out about it. Let people know it exists in newsletters, morning announcements, posters, bookmarks, etc. Entice them with giveaways for sharing posts, checking in, or using unique hashtags. I saw very little interactions in the form of likes, comments, or shares on these school library pages. I know it bums me out when no one likes or comments on a post on my personal Facebook page, I can only imagine how fruitless a librarian's efforts must feel when no one likes or comments on a post she carefully considered and crafted for her school library page. That's the only disadvantage I can see with library promotion via Facebook: working hard to upkeep and update with little to no interaction from Facebookland.
References:
McCarthy, N. (2014, October). Facebook versus Twitter in numbers [Infographic]. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2014/10/14/facebook-versus-twitter-infographic/
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