Portraying a Professional Social Media Presence

I recently read an article called "11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media", written by digital entrepreneur Hollis Thomases. The article's focus seemed to be on larger companies that might hire interns to set up and run social media for them, such as Facebook and Twitter. While not all of what the article said might be relevant to libraries, I think it did bring up some good points about our own social media accounts.

Many libraries will use younger staff or volunteers to maintain a social media presence because they feel that this group better understands the medium and will better be able to connect with the audience. While this may be true - and I do think using younger staff or volunteers for this task isn't a bad idea - it's important that you ensure that they are equipped to accurately and professionally represent your library - that is what they are doing after all. 

Here are some tips to ensure that your social media presence is a beneficial marketing tool, rather than a public relations disaster:

1. Ensure that the person posting, tweeting, etc, knows your organization. They should have experience within your organization in some form or another. If they are 'working' for you (even in a volunteer capacity) they should go through the same orientation process that you would provide to any new employee. Ensure they understand your policies, practices and procedures.
2. Make sure they have the same values that your organization encompasses. You don't want someone representing your organization that doesn't believe in the value of libraries. Think about the other values and beliefs that your library encompasses: protection of privacy, intellectual freedom, access to information ... these are all important tenets of librarianship. You don't want someone who doesn't understand or believe in these representing you, as they are likely to contradict them at some point.
3. Ensure they understand they must act professionally at all times. This means, not interacting with their friends on your Facebook page, not re-tweeting inappropriate material and so on. It may be tempting for them to use these tools in a professional manner the same way they do personally, but that is really not what you want. In social media in particular, who your 'friends' are matter, as they can affect your image by tagging and posting to your organizational accounts without your permission.
4. Ensure you have guidelines that outline your purpose, goals and audience in having a social media presence. Let your social media person know what they are there for. Is the intention to promote library resources, or to get patron feedback, or to reach new audiences? This will help guide their activity and ensure that you are making the best use of yours and their time. There are sample social media policies available online (here is one example: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/legal/intel-social-media-guidelines.html). Chinook Arch also has a social media policy that we are happy to share as a starting point.
5. Ensure that they understand what is appropriate and what is not. Remember that they are representing your brand. How do you want that to look? For example, humor can be a tricky element to use. Recently there was a news story about a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion that included an offensive joke in their newsletter. The person who included the joke was just trying to add some humor to the publication, but it caused a public relations nightmare. Be clear about what is acceptable and what is not.
6. Ensure they have good communication skills. This is what social media is all about after all. Take a look at a sample of their writing. Although good capitalization and punctuation don't seem to be the hallmark of a good tweet, you do want to ensure that they present a professional demeanor, that includes correct spelling and appropriate language.
7. As Thomases puts it, you need to "keep the keys". Ensure that whoever is setting up your accounts does so using library email addresses, and that the login information is shared with you immediately. Unintentionally or not, you don't want your accounts left abandoned because you can't access them (or worse yet, with someone from outside your organization having access to them).  Passwords should be changed if the person managing the accounts leaves the organization.

Remember that social media is about marketing, customer service, public relations, crisis management and branding. Do you really want to have someone representing all these aspects of your organization with no guidelines, training or accountability? While social media can be a powerful tool, it should be used responsibly.

You can read the entire article mentioned above at: http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/social-media-dont-put-intern-in-charge.html

Undiscovered Titles in the Professional Collection

Last week I weeded the professional collection here at HQ and I found dozens of great resources that are being under-utilized.  In particular, there are a number of “library management” titles that you should check out:

96 Great Interview Questions to Ask Before you Hire, Paul Falcone

The Accidental Library Manager, Rachel Singer Gordon

Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service, Performance Research Associates

Fundamentals of Library Supervision, Joan Giesecke and Beth McNeil

The Grantwriter’s Start-up Kit Workbook: a beginner’s guide to grant proposals

How to Form Your Friends of the Library Group, Dorothy Macnaughton, Jami van Haaften

Librarians as Community Partners: an Outreach Handbook, Carol Smallwood

Running a Small Library: A How to Do It Manual, John Moorman

Staffing for Results: a Guide to Working Smarter, Diane Mayo, Jeanne Goodrich 

I hope you find some of these resources helpful.  I'll be highlighting other great resources in this collection in another post.  

Writing for the Web Refresher

Over this summer, I have talked to a number of my co-workers about website design and online content. At Chinook Arch, we are currently working on a new RISE website, an interface for Interlibrary Loan Services, and the Internal Website, so it has been a bit of hot topic.

Although I have taught website management classes in the past that included tips on creating content, I realized that was quite some time ago. In revisiting some best practices for content creation, I thought I would share some guidelines here for our member libraries.

• Omit Needless Words: This is the name of Steve Krug’s fifth chapter in his book, “Don’t Make Me Think.” His third law of usability is, “Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” Users will be able to find the information easier and faster.

 

• Classic Black: Stick with black, san-serif font. The human eye can most easily focus on black font against a white background, like books. Our eyes have even harder time focusing on computer screens than print, so make your content easy to see. 

 

• Use Plain Language: When creating web content, use common, everyday words. If you are writing for the library’s website, try for a friendly tone and use “you” for the user and “we” for the library. Write like a newspaper reporter and put your most important information in the first paragraph. 

By applying these simply suggestions, you will make content on your library’s website, or any website you contribute to, more visible, findable and accessible for your virtual visitors.

Let’s get Crafty! Giving Old Books a New Lease on Life

 Savvy Housekeeping

I really enjoyed Lauren’s post on weeding back in July. Coincidentally, I witnessed someone in my neighbourhood weeding out items from their own personal collection. I passed by a house that had an assortment of books piled up on their lawn with a sign above reading “Free Books.”  As I walked by each day the books never changed and no one ever picked them up (myself included). 

I started thinking about libraries and weeding and what happens to materials when they’re sent off to the land of misfit books. As Lauren noted, while weeding may come easy to some libraries, others may struggle a bit. 

One issue is the belief that the item will be sought after once it has been removed.  Every book its reader, right? Another concern is what to do with all these old books.  Book sales and donations help to find homes for these gems. Some items, however, never make it into new hands. Enter the 21 Uses for Old Books.  

These are my three favourite uses from this posting. I believe that some of these ideas could even become artsy programming ideas at a public library.

Warning: These require patience and a crafty approach. 

eReader Covers:  Ever hear a patron say that an eReader is just not the same as a printed book?  Well, hand them over a weeded book and put that person to work.  If the dimensions are right, you can detach the cover, glue in felt padding, sew in a couple elastic bands, and voila you have an eReader book cover. 

Secret Piggy Bank: This craft requires you to hollow out the pages in an old hard cover book so as to create a hidden space for money and other valuables.  I personally think this one has potential for those going to the beach. While you’re taking a dip in the water, thieves will never think to look in your hardcover copy of War and Peace, secretly hiding your watch and wallet (oh so clever).  

Greeting Cards: I’m partial to this idea because I come from a family who likes to make their own cards.  One can take the pages of a book and use them to design a cover or background on a card. This is a really nice and doable way to personalize greeting cards and can be used for all types of occasions.  

Coasters: glue page excerpts onto ceramic tiles and cover with a sleek varnish. A one of a kind housewarming gift! Or, keep them for yourself.

For those still seeking out ideas for weeded books, check out some of these neat ideas. 

Staying Green While Weeding - Public Libraries Online 

New Life for Old Books - Pinterest 

Project Management for Libraries

Have you heard of project management?

It's a term I was vaguely familiar with, I had heard it used in reference to tech companies but didn't really understand what it meant until I started investigating recently. Increasingly I've seen talk of project management in the library world and have adopted the method for my own project.

Project management is the practice of planning, organizing, leading and controlling resources in order to complete a goal or 'project'. It is a discipline that can be studied and there are different certifications recognized by professional project management organizations, but the coursework isn't necessary to use the concepts for your next project.


What makes a project?

A project is a temporary endeavor that has a definite beginning and end, goals and objectives as well as specific constraints (time, budget, and scope). Examples in the library world could include a renovation, building a local history archive, moving to a new ILS, or creating a new website. The outcomes of the project will live on but the work to reach the final product ends.


Project Management Basics

Projects progress in 5 unique phases:

1. Initiation: Ask why? What is the need for the project? What outcomes do we want to see? What will be the deliverables?
2. Planning: Who are our stakeholders - organization staff, funders, project staff & people affected by the deliverables.
3. Execution: Set aside some time to focus. Define your resources (staff, equipment, software and other tangible items needed). As project manager you will identify and define the tasks your project team will work on.
4. Controlling/Monitoring: Add dates to the defined resources to make a 'control schedule'.
5. Closing: Ensure project deliverables are within the parameters agreed to during initiation. Assess outcomes and evaluate the project.

I used these guidelines to develop documents that I could enter information to refer back to throughout my project. I answered the above questions and created a list of stakeholders. In addition I used a method in  Project Management by Peter Hobbs, in planning. Using sticky notes you create a visual road map of the project broken down into deliverables and tasks. Tasks can be assigned to team members and added/rearranged as necessary. This method has worked well for the team as it helped make the project tangible and transparent. Plus... we got to use colored sticky notes! My experience with project management so far has been great. It has allowed me to have laser focus on my project and to solidly know what I want to achieve. Using the method has helped eliminate creep (when other projects seep into each other and muddy the outcomes you want to achieve), but most importantly has helped me wrangle a large difficult project into manageable tasks.

My Project Management Plan

Further Reading

I highly recommend the book Project Management by Peter Hobbs, for learning the basics. It has a great balance of information for beginners and explains the concepts with plain language and visuals. Bonus - it's available in the system!

Sarah Houghton - Librarian in Black outlines her experience with project management at the San Jose Public Library when launching their website.

Annie Pho interviews Caro Pinto - Social Sciences and Emerging Technologies Librarian at Hampshire College about Librarians as project managers on the Hack Library School blog.

Ira Revels has written a great article on project management for librarians (and has an book out next spring) available through the ALA publication, American Libraries.