Facebook and Twitter Exploration

Facebook
I never knew how many school libraries have Facebook pages. When doing the search, I found so many different types of libraries, as well as different types of content on their pages.

The first school library page that grabbed my attention was Houston Middle School Library. Houston Middle School is a public school located in Germantown, Tennessee. This school's librarian has put a lot of time and effort into making this page innovative and interesting to all who visit. The main thing I noticed that the librarian posts are promotions for different reading programs and activities, such as the Barnes and Noble Bookfest that is upcoming. There are also links to different contests and information for the event. The librarian also posts different educational videos that deal with promoting reading literacy and different reading activities taking place on her campus. One aspect of this page that I really liked was using it to advocate for her library, whether it is to get help in the library, or if she needed donations to better her library for her students. I noticed that the librarian posts very frequently on the page, about 7-10 times a day, however there are not many comments or likes on any of the posts. This shows that the librarian is determined to get her library's name out there as well as all of the wonderful things she is doing in her library.

The next page I found grabbed my attention because it belongs to a school that is a suburb of Dallas, and is a pretty big campus as far as student size goes. The name of the school is Mesquite High School, which is located in Mesquite, Texas. I have to say that I was disappointed in what I saw on this Facebook page. There weren't many posts, about 1-2 posts every month. The posts that were made were about things directly related to the school. There were no posts about reading promotion activities/events that were taking place outside of the school. One positive thing about this page was that the videos that were posted showed lots of reading activities that were going on at the campus, which is one way to advocate for the library.

One disadvantage to having a library Facebook page is the fact that it may not be seen by many students or other patrons if it is not promoted regularly. If you work at a low-income school, like I do, you might even run into the problem of students not having access to internet or technology except for when they are on campus. On the other hand, I think having a Facebook page, or any other social media page for your library, is one of the best ways to promote your library in this digital age. When you post on a regular basis, and your posts are beneficial and inspirational for your patrons, you will see the benefits of using a Facebook page.

Twitter 
I recently rejoined Twitter about 6 months ago. I had an account a long time ago, but did not see its appeal or value as far as staying connected with others, as I did with other social media sites. However, over the years, Twitter has become more popular so I decided to give it another try. This time around, I decided to use it only on a professional level and follow those who are in or on the same career path as I am. This has been a great decision for me as I get so many ideas from the many Tweets I receive daily, many from the educational leaders in the library profession. Here are a few of my favorite Tweets from some of the new educational leaders that I just recently started to follow:

I started following Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) after reading all of the innovative ways she integrated Bloom's Revised Taxonomy with different technology applications and devices. I have become very intrigued and interested in her tweets. I consider her a master of all things new and improved when it comes to educational technology. Most of her tweets show the importance of educational technology and why it is so important that we all stay up to date on technological advances. I enjoyed reading her latest blog entry about the online tool IFTTT (If This Than That), which allows you to connect 2 online services together to cause another event or task to happen.

Linda Braun (@lbraun2000) is a past president of YALSA. Most of her tweets are directly related to YALSA. She is a huge advocate for the organization as well as reading in general. She retweeted a video from the CL Alliance that was truly inspiring and motivating. The video is about using maker spaces in the hospitals for children who have lengthy hospital stays. This video is truly encouraging as it shows kids dealing with lifelong illnesses getting the opportunity to develop and create hands on projects.

The Daring Librariain (@GwynethJones) is my new favorite blog and Twitter page to visit. Her page grabs your attention and pulls you in as soon as you click on it. This Twitter page is one that young adults and adults can both relate to. One of her recent blog posts about her BYOD (bring your own device) charging lockers that she uses in her library is absolutely brilliant. I could see this type of charging station being very popular in many libraries.