using google hangouts to connect libraries and...
TRANSCRIPT
Presenters
BARBARA ALVAREZ,
Business Liaison Librarian
Barrington Area Library, IL
GWYNETH STUPAR,
Adult Services Librarian
Barrington Area Library, IL
www.liboncon.com
@lib_oncon
You’re On Air! Using Google Hangouts to Connect Libraries and Librarians
WHO ARE WE? Barbara Alvarez www.barbaralvarez.com @the_barbrarian
Gwyneth Stupar www.gwynethstupar.com @gwynonite
GOOGLE HANGOUTS &
GOOGLE HANGOUTS ON
AIR Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Hangouts_Icon.png
Gwyneth Stupar www.gwynethstupar.com @gwynonite
STAY IN TOUCH!
Barbara Alvarez www.barbaralvarez.com @the_barbrarian
www.liboncon.com @lib_oncon [email protected]
Q&A
BARBARA ALVAREZ,
Business Liaison Librarian
Barrington Area Library, IL
GWYNETH STUPAR,
Adult Services Librarian
Barrington Area Library, IL
Community Empowerment
in Times of Crisis: How the Ferguson (MO) Public Library
is Using Social Media and Tech for
Support and Transformation
Preview About Me
About Ferguson
Social Media Content
Guiding Principles
Know Your Platform
Growing Your Audience
Selected Tools and Resources
About Me • Master’s Degrees in psychology and English (Just
need a philosophy degree for the low-pay trifecta.)
• Psychology instructor at St. Louis Community
College
• Freelance writer
• Mom of four young children
• Long-time social media user, staff for multiple
discussion forums
• The interesting part: Wife of Super-Librarian Scott
Bonner, director of the Ferguson Library
About Ferguson: The Library
• FMPL Founded in 1930
• Serves Ferguson, MO, an inner ring suburb of St.
Louis
• 400K budget
• One level, almost one room
• Truly Independent; Own tax base
• Director was the only full-time employee when
Michael Brown was shot.
About Ferguson: Michael Brown
• Aug 9, Mike Brown killed
• Aug 10-13, QT burned, tear gas and rubber bullets.
• Aug 14-22, Ferguson-Florissant School District closed
• Aug 15, name of Off. Wilson & convenience store
video
• Aug 20, grand jury seated
• Nov 17, state of emergency revived
• Nov 24, grand jury announcement
• Nov 24-25, broken glass and fire
About Ferguson: Our Response
A Sample of Programs
• School for PeacePrograms when schools closed
• Healing KitsMental health resources for families
• Readings on Race Book Club
• Served as a meeting place for Small Business Administration and Missouri Secretary of State’s office to organize relevant papers and provide short term loans.
• Unity Collection DevelopedBooks with diverse characters and authors assembled.
• “Hands Up” Art Show
About Ferguson: Our Social Media Response
• Initially slow: o Uncertain of how to proceed in light of current events
o Social media new to Ferguson library
o Lack of staff time
• Became more frequent as the needs of the
community became more clear.
• I stepped up to help at the end of October. o The community was still edgy with continuing protests.
o The library remained very busy dealing with the chaos in addition to
normal library concerns.
o We were astounded at the response that came in November after the
Grand Jury decision.
o My husband and I both stayed up all day and night for days.
Guiding Principles: What should we say?
• Deciding how to use social media can be an
important opportunity to clarify values and purpose.
• Our guiding principles include:
1.Continuing education/Lifelong learning
2.Cultural literacy
3.Serving as a center for your community.
• Communication reflects those principles. Every
library should have its own guidelines and a social
media style that reflects them.
Guiding Principles: What shouldn’t we say?
• Avoid partisan politics.
• Be careful not to promote commercial interests.
• Don’t denigrate or insult authors, books, or
organizations.
• Be meticulous about posts; avoid typos and other
errors if at all possible.
• Keep the language PG 13.
• We are here to serve the entire community, and
need to provide a welcoming front door.
Know Your Platform: To Whom Are You Speaking? • Recognize that different platforms are attractive to
different types of users.
• Assess the tech ability and access of your patrons.
• Facebook is likely to be the most popular with
people uncomfortable with technology.
• In our case, Facebook draws more local followers
and Twitter draws more distant followers.
Know Your Platform: Conversation Type
• Twitter’s character limit requires short information
bursts. Lends itself well to quick, fun questions. Allows
you to easily reshare user input.
• Facebook lends itself more to memes and other
visuals. Does not allow for easily sharing user input.
Because it lacks character limit, can provide for
more in-depth conversations.
• A Facebook page and a Twitter feed will cover
most libraries’ needs.
Know Your Platform: Best Time Investment
• Not possible to be active on every platform, pick what is best for your situation.
• For example, we tried using G+, but it didn’t work out. Might be helpful for in-depth discussions of literature such a book club.
• Assess your goals when choosing a platform.
• Other possibilities: o Pinterest
o Instagram
o Vine
o Tumblr
o Reddit
o And more!
Growing Your Audience • Audience quantity doesn’t equal quality. A single
engaged follower is more important than many
followers who never interact.
• Be active!Frequent posts let followers know you
are engaged and help break through Facebook
algorithms.
• Images and embedded videos are helpful,
especially on Facebook.
Growing Your Audience • Follow libraries, authors, and presses with cool stuff
and share it.
• Tag specific authors when you discuss their work.
• Engage with the people who share with you.
Comment, reshare, favorite and like.
Growing Your Audience • While the above tips can be helpful, none of them
can replace good content and genuine
engagement.
• Truly engage and make friends.
• Talk about and share the things you love; your
passion will come through.
Selected Tools and Resources
• canva.com: simple graphics program that allows you to design fliers and social media images
• topsy.com: helpful program for searching Twitter
• hootsuite.com: program that lets you schedule message release in advance
• Graphics cheat sheet: Helps you select the best sizes for each platform: http://thesupremelygifted.com/2015-social-media-image-size-cheat-sheet/
• Take advantage of Facebook’s free analytic tools.
• Search for images including the term “creative commons” as a way to find free materials.