Facebook and Twitter

Today’s blog is going to look at the role that both Facebook and Twitter can have in regards to the library.  I searched for “School Library” in Facebook and looked at three pages.

     I was able to look at Duncanville High School Library (Duncanville, Texas), Esparza Elementary library page (San Antonio, Texas) and Tuloso-Midway High School library page (Corpus Christi, Texas).  The following are some key observation points regarding the three pages. 

     For Duncanville High School library page; the first thing I noticed was a pictograph regarding the use of the library during the 2017-2018 school year.  It showed that I like that they showcasing the works of various authors.  Some of the authors that were highlighted were Patrick, Carman, Helen Frost, and Maureen Johnson.  They were advertising different events that were happening around the school district such as Librarypalooza; and NerdvanaCon.  The library page also showed how students, staff and almost anyone could help out with the Hurricane Harvey Relief effort by listing items that the library was able to solve 1660 technology issues in the library for students and staff; they held 277 events in the library; and 2850 classes were able to visit the library during the last school year.  This information is vital to show your school’s administration as to how the library is being utilized by its school members in a time that some school are thinking about either closing libraries or transferring them to smaller locations.  What I did not find appealing was that there were very few posts; but the posts that were shown were very interesting.  The one that I found interesting was a picture that showed library patrons reading books while using exercise bikes. I message a friend that works at that school to get more information and maybe if it is a positive one; I will see if my library would be interested in maybe purchasing one for your library.

     In regards to the Esparza Elementary Library page here are some positive points and some suggestions. They also had a library report in regards to how it was used last year; but the information was provided by their school district.  It lacked the eye-catching graphics that were visible with Duncanville.  I did like that they posted at least once a week and the posts featured students using the library.  They also showcased the collaborations that go one between the librarian and the classroom teachers.   

     The last page that I looked at belonged to the Tuloso-Midway High School Library.  Working at a High School this was my favorite page, mainly because there were numerous posts throughout the school year.  The school runs on a year-round calendar so there were several posts from this summer.  The one post that caught my eye was one that was asking for book donations to be used in their new Starbooks Lounge.  The Starbooks lounge was a place where students can enjoy a hot cup of coffee while reading a book. This is something that we tried at our school; but because of fear of students making a mess with the coffee; it was shut down.  This segment was part of their Friday Fun Facts video segment that was produced by the library staff. 

     Having a Facebook library page has its pros and cons.  The pros are that the library can get more information out to students, the staff and the school community.  They can promote school and library events; showcase books; and promote literacy.  The drawback would be if the library did not post on at least a daily basis; because people will stop visiting the page if no new informatiohttps://twitter.com/jimlerman/status/1036311049853644800n is posted when they visit it.  In regards to my school’s library; having a Facebook page would be hard to pull off.  Our school blocks Facebook; so, if a page was to be set up, it would have to be done after working hours at location that was not part of the school.  This would be hard to do because if the owner of the page was like me; I would forget to do it because I had other things that I had to do around my house and with my family. 

     In regards to twitter; I had been following several new people including those that are tech savvy and are able to share their thoughts and recommendations with others for the past year.  I had stopped visiting their pages this summer; so I was able to visit them all again .  One of the first people that I read; was Kathy Schrock @kathyshcrock.  Her twitter page will first lead you to several of her webpages including www.kathyschrock.com.  This web page has a bunch of great information including her speaking engagements.  You are also able to access her blog that has great information regarding new technology that I am able to share with my colleagues.  In regards to her tweets she had some great technology information as well as posts regarding school tools to use (https://twitter.com/kathyschrock/status/1035881265126354945) and cute one that help young kids learn about apps (https://twitter.com/kathyschrock/status/1031675119410790400 ). 

The next person that I visited was Linda Brawn @Lbrawn2000.  She describes herself as a learning consultant, educator and teen advocate.  I was not that impressed with her tweets.  The majority of her tweets were re-tweets about YALSA; and other re-tweets from various different sites on the net.     Another person that I was able to follow was David Warlick @dwarlick.  I had like this page a lot last year because he had posted several awesome articles.  But know the majority of his tweets are the posting of photographs and music videos.  One of the tweets that I found somewhat fascinating was where he informed the public that the book that took him over 4 years to construct was now available for purchase (https://twitter.com/dwarlick/status/1029355059900018688).  

            The Daring Librarian @GwynethJones was the next person that I was able to view her tweets.  She is self described as a Future Reading Mover, Shaker and Innovater.  She has the most up to date posts of the previous ones.  One of her most recent posts was a link for a librarian to download school ready cartoons that can be used in library as well as in the classroom (https://twitter.com/GwynethJones/status/1036306717456388096 ).  Her posts also are relevant with today’s libraries and teaching classrooms. One of the posts that caught my eye was a link to help teachers set up blogs that will help them connect to their students (https://twitter.com/GwynethJones/status/1036240948429246464).

            The last page that I was able to look at was one that belonged to Jim Lerman @jimlerman.  He is known as an Architect of Ideas & Implementations.  He has great information and links for librarians and teachers.  The one that was most valuable was a link that he shared regarding different ways of using Google Docs, Slides & Forms for school projects (https://twitter.com/jimlerman/status/1036311049853644800 ).  This caught my attention because our school recently attended a professional development on using google classrooms. 

            As the semester goes one, I will be following the posts of the people I just reviewed along with others that share great posts regarding library studies.