Looking at Library Social Media During the Pandemic, Part 1
Libraries across the country have experienced closures and changes to their service models for nearly a year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Many libraries have turned to their social media accounts to publicize and even present events and programming that would normally have taken place in the library for in-person audiences. This blog post looks at how a few of the libraries I have used or worked for and how they are adapting to the restrictions necessitated by COVID.
Pima County Public Library
PCPL is operating under a restricted service model and is currently only offering curbside service to patrons on location. On social media, the library maintains a comprehensive Facebook calendar for all of their virtual events.
The library also maintains accounts on Instagram and Twitter where it regularly shares publicity for these events. The library also interacts with and responds to questions from patrons on all of these platforms. The library has a YouTube account, but it is currently underutilized. This channel could likely be used more for publishing videos from the library’s virtual events.
Buchanan County Public Library
BCPL, the first library I worked in after college, is completely closed to the public as of this writing. However, library staff are live on Facebook multiple times per week to present readings for children, talks with authors, and just chatting about upcoming programs. They engage with and answer questions from library users live during their broadcasts. Facebook seems to be a great platform for the library to reach the parents of children who would typically be coming into the library.
The library is also active on Instagram and maintains a YouTube account, but content there is sparse. The library has likely concluded that most of their patrons will see their content on Facebook, but sharing some videos from key events on this channel might help with outreach, as videos are easier to share from YouTube.
University of Arizona Libraries
The main library of UA Libraries — where I work now — is only open for pickup services in the main lobby. The libraries do not appear to use their Facebook events calendar for virtual events: it has not been updated since March of last year. They do, however, post regularly about upcoming virtual events, speakers, and presentations.
The libraries also use Instagram and Twitter to publicize these events, and content across these platforms is pretty uniform. The libraries also have a YouTube channel where they regularly post guides and how-tos for library services and recordings of library events, but coverage of virtual events held in the last year is inconsistent on the channel.
Conclusion
While this is not a representative sample of libraries or a longitudinal study of how their use of social media has evolved over the course of the pandemic, this snapshot still tells us a few interesting things about how these libraries are using social media right now. By livestreaming all of their virtual events, BCPL has leveraged the power of Facebook to continue connecting with their patrons in an impactful and immediate way. PCPL sees the calendar tools provided by Facebook as the most effective way to share information about upcoming events. UA Libraries has adopted a consistency across their social media channels that ensures patrons will find information about library events regardless of where they look for it.
However, none of these three libraries are taking full advantage of their YouTube channels. Uploading recorded events or livestreams to YouTube could help the libraries reach a larger audience with these videos given the ease with which YouTube videos can be shared an embedded.
Looking forward, as pandemic closures and restrictions are slowly rolling back across the country, it will be interesting to see how many of these new social media practices persist. It would be to many libraries’ advantage to continue to offer livestreaming of events even when those events resume taking place in the library for in-person audiences. Maintaining a comprehensive event calendar on Facebook also adds benefits at no cost to libraries whether the events are virtual or not.
It is clear that the pandemic has imposed serious challenges on libraries, all of which still have a mandate to serve their user populations, but many have found creative and resourceful solutions to these problems that might in fact turn out to be valuable resources for their patrons going forward.
