Now more than ever, social networking plays an enormous role in our world, both personally and professionally. Libraries are no different. Social networking has opened up entirely new opportunities in terms of information sharing and interconnectedness-- two things (among many others) that are fundamental to our libraries and fostering their prosperity.
There are a number of benefits a library can find in social networking: cultivating community engagement (and potentially widening what and who their community is by reaching out to more readers), sharing information about upcoming events and programs of all kinds, and, in short, promoting all the library has to offer. Johannes Neuer, the associate director of marketing for the New York Public Library in 2013, says "he believes that using social media is a low budget practice that any-sized library can take on" and that it is possible for it to be done "in house" (Dankowski, 39).
Social networking is a tool full of potential. Personally, it has allowed me to connect to one of my favorite libraries, The Rosenberg Library, even though it is more than 1,200 miles away in Galveston, Texas. Through the Rosenberg Library's use of social networking on their Instagram account, I can still learn about their latest virtual adult book club that meets via zoom at the end of this month due to COVID-19, as well as participate in guessing the original use of one of their many strange, archaic Victorian Era tools from their museum collection that they also share information about through Instagram. Social networking is an effective way to truly help patrons get the most out of their libraries.
Works Cited:
Dankowski, Terra. “How Libraries Are Using Social Media.” American Libraries, vol. 44, no. 5, 2013, pp. 38–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24602212. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020.
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