The use of social media
at the Thomas Crane Public Library
Social media is a free, relatively simple and popular tool to use
for marketing in public libraries. Social media provides multiple outlets for
libraries to connect with their patrons outside of the library itself,
providing them with the ability to get their messages across to their users in
many formats. This year, 2013, has proven to be a popular year for the
discussion of social media in public libraries and therefore my selected
institution is the Thomas Crane Public Library.
The Thomas Crane Public Library is a collection of four local public
libraries; the Main Library, Adams Shore Branch, North Quincy Branch and the
Wollaston Branch. They are all located within Quincy, Massachusetts. Below is a
screenshot of their @Your Library page (Thomas Crane Public Library, 2012), which lists all the different ways that patrons can connect with
the library using social media.
As you can see from the list the Thomas Crane Public Library is a
very heavy user of social media to connect with their patrons. They ensure that
they utilise many different types of social media so that they can reach as
many of their patrons as possible in the format they most prefer/use.
Some libraries follow a fairly liberal approach to social media use,
allowing any staff members within their institutions to access and post
information on their various social media sites. Others take a stricter
approach by creating policies to ensure that anyone who does utilise the social
media outlets does so in an efficient, effective and appropriate manner. The
Thomas Crane Public Library is an example of a public library that has a
specific policy related to social media. By having a policy it ensures that the
use of social media is tied into the mission of the library itself and that
everything that is put on the site is done so to help the library in some way
and is not just done in an adhoc manner.
The policy at the Thomas Crane Public Library includes a policy
statement, definition and a set of regulations, both general and specific ones.
By having a policy they ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes
to using and responding to feedback on the site. It also informs the staff and
patrons when comments on the social media sites will be taken down. Their
policy statement informs us that the “Library uses social media to foster
communication with library users and publicize library programs, services and
events” (Thomas Crane Public Library, 2011). It also mentions the connection between the libraries mission and
that of the social media policy. The use of social media to spread information
about events was highlighted by the fact that November 11th 2013 was
Veteran’s Day and this meant that the library was closed. To inform their
patrons they took to two of their social media sites to ensure that they would
capture a wider audience than just those using the library website with a post
on Facebook and a tweet on Twitter (Thomas Crane Public Library, 2013b,
2013c).
Since the library utilizes such a wide range of social media I have
selected just a sampling to further investigate and compare the success of each
against what the regulations listed for that particular site are within their
policy. The three social media tools I have chosen are Facebook, Twitter and
the Staff Book Pick’s Blog as they are all designed to provide different but
sometimes overlapping information. While I will not go into details regarding
the other social media tools I will mention that they are all updated regularly
with a post occurring at most a month ago and they are all designed to provide
a specific outlet for the staff at the Thomas Crane Public Library to share different
information. For instance each blog has a specific purpose outlined in the
title, Flickr is set up for the library to share pictures from its own events
and of the library buildings and Pinterest is used mainly to highlight book
selections and collections.
The Thomas Crane Public Library Facebook page is updated regularly
with a status posted roughly every two days. Here they inform patrons of events
occurring at the library and locally, as well as amusing stories related to
libraries. The site is informative as well as entertaining and is well utilized
with over 1300 likes and on average a minimum of 25 people talking about the
library per day. The page is not overly well linked to the other social media
outlets but the website and Pinterest link can be found easily. The aim of the
social media policy is clearly met with their use of Facebook, where they
communicate to patrons about events, programs and meetings. They also adhere to
their policy of not liking individual users but do have a select range of
libraries that they have liked. The one thing I find lacking on the Facebook
page is information informing the users that they do not guarantee a response. Because
while this is included in the policy I think it is unlikely that patrons will
evaluate the policy and instead just be expecting a response on the Facebook
page. Especially since there seems to be a fair amount of user interaction on
this page with people posting and commenting to items on the page at regular
intervals.
The Twitter page is well designed with the bio section informing followers of what to expect on the Twitter page. They establish that the page is there more for them to informally communicate with users regarding interesting facts in history and the literary world, though they do also tweet upcoming library events. They tend to post on average once a day however they do not seem to have a large uptake for this social media outlet with only 255 followers, which is considered a low number. They do not successfully stick to their policy directive of not following individual users; with some of the 176 followers they have being individuals. The twitter page clearly states at the top that questions should be directed to the email address or phone number provided which ensures that the page is meeting the third regulation as set out by the social media policy for Twitter.
This blog has been established to allow staff to share their book
selections via the library website. Each staff member is given their own ID to
post under and they write a short review of the book they are summarizing with
a link included at the end to the catalogue for users to locate the item. The
blog is regularly maintained with a post occurring about once a week. It clearly
meets the specifications that are outlined in the social media policy, however
it does not reestablish anywhere that the opinions listed within the reviews
are not those of the library but the individuals.
These three selected examples have highlighted how the library’s use
of various social media tools allows them to connect with their users in
multiple different formats. It provides them different platforms to share
messages that are both informative and for entertainment. It allows the
librarians to share interesting and fun facts with their users that may not
otherwise get communicated, and let the users see that libraries are more than
just about books. It provides a more personal connection. You can hear the
human voice behind the posts and the excitement when someone has written
something they are passionate about. The Thomas Crane Public Library is fairly
good about adhering to its social media policy and is a very well connected
public library, ensuring that it has a set up in place to reach out to as many
members of its community virtually as possible. One thing I did wish to note is
that while the social media does not state it is trying to increase visitors to
the website I found it surprising how under linked the library website was from
the social media sites. Furthermore it is hard to tell the success of the
social media sites, for instance is the library doing all this outreach and
posting but how well is it being responded too. From the examples provided
without having statistics on visits to the webpage it is impossible to know how
successful any of the blogs are. However the Facebook page certainly seems to
be a more popular tool by users particularly over the Twitter account. Finally
there is also the question of overlap, for example does everyone that has the
library on Twitter also have them on Facebook, are they doubling the amount of
work they need to do to reach their users? These are all thoughts that cannot
be answered from the information available online but is perhaps something they
at the library are aware of.
To conclude I think that the Thomas Crane Public Library has a
simple and easy to follow social media policy that allows for coherent use of
the specified social media tools. It provides them with the ability to reach
out to new and current users in new ways to inform them of events and news from
the library while also engaging with them on a lighter level for entertainment.
Thomas Crane Public Library. (2011). Thomas Crane Public Library Social
Media Policy. http://thomascranelibrary.org/sites/default/files/Social
Media Policy.pdf
Thomas Crane Public Library. (2012). @Your Library. Retrieved 10th November, 2013, from http://thomascranelibrary.org/connect/%40yourlibrary
Thomas Crane Public Library. (2013a). Staff Book Picks. Retrieved 10th November, 2013, from http://thomascranelibrary.org/books/staff-picks
Thomas Crane Public Library. (2013c). Thomas Crane Public Library Facebook
Page. Retrieved 10th November, 2013,
from http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-Crane-Public-Library/51025082871
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