Blog or Bleaaaurgh?

Ok, so I’ve read the A-Z of social networking for libraries (Brown, A., 2010, http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2010/01/22/a-to-z-of-social-networking-for-libraries/) and I want to consider how they apply to my own school library.

B is for Blog. Hmm... well, I had to check this one. My school is a P-12, divided into a Primary campus and a High School campus. After a little hunting through the student portal I found a blog for the High School library, but as suspected there is not one for the Primary library at all. Considering that these libraries co-exist at the same school this incongruity just seems to signal that there is a lack of collaboration within the school. I think the best option would be to share one together. Then, of course they need to make it more obvious. It’s so hidden that I doubt anyone except the High School librarian has ever actually looked at it.

I is for interesting. I have to admit that at first glance I wanted to leave the library blog page because it looked so dull. It is dominated by a background of bookshelves (because it’s a library!) and the posts are all text. To be fair they have also included a series of images alongside the posts to try and liven it up a little, but they are almost exclusively photos of static displays of books from around the library. There are really few redeeming features to this blog, and it is not surprising that I could not find a single comment on any of the posts.

S is for Slideshare, and P is for podcasting. Both of these would liven up the blog no end and could involve student collaboration in their creation (simultaneously lessening the burden on the library staff!).

M is for mobile, and thanks to our school’s hardworking IT department we even have our own app. The school culture certainly embraces mobile technology, but the library is falling behind. Perhaps a Twitter feed would be the way to engage the students with what they have to offer?

Overall, my school library does not have a D for direction in its use of social media right now, but with a little Z for zeal they could still embrace the library 2.0 ethos.