A library social media manifesto
VALA2022 CONCURRENT 19
Thursday 16 June 2022, 09:15 – 09:45
Ned Potter
- Academic Liaison Librarian
- University of York, UK
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View the presentation recording here:
Abstract
Since the pandemic began there has been a profound shift in the way we engage with library users. Community has become more important than ever before, and taking risks and showing personality online has been rewarded with more engagement and interaction. But now a lot of libraries report engagement slowing down a little – how do we refresh and re-energise?
This talk examines the way in which social media platforms can work together and separately to truly become part of our communities. We’ll discuss how rough edges can be more engaging than polished perfection; how Instagram has grown in importance (whilst also becoming more complicated to use…); what truly matters in terms of measuring impact; and how to build a larger following for key library messaging. We’ll also talk about the importance of dialogue, and using social media to listen as well as talk.
The talk is framed as a social media manifesto – universal for all library sectors – covering purpose, coordination, approachability, empathy and analysis.
Biography
Ned Potter is an Academic Liaison Librarian at the University of York, and a Trainer for various organisations including the Bodleian and the British Library. He has worked with Libraries across four continents, providing marketing and communication expertise. His book The Library Marketing Toolkit was published by Facet in 2012. Ned can be found online at ned-potter.com and on Twitter at @ned_potter.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License