I then moved on to find a middle school page for Austin Middle School Library. This page had 609 likes, so I was sure it would be more interactive...and I was right! However, they should take the word "Library" off of this page, because it had nothing to do with the media center. This librarian utilized her page to share school events such as Back to School Bash and Open House, which is great, except that this is all she used the site for. She reminded students about picture day, student counsel meetings, sports events, school-wide charity projects, etc. She included LOTS of pictures from events such as the Fall Dance, volleyball and basketball games, and the Fireman Festival. She would sometimes get up to 30 likes on a post and some even commented. This would be great news if this librarian had used the page to also inform followers about the library...books, events, research, etc. She not one time used this page to engage students or parents to the media center. Again, I left the page feeling discouraged.
THEN, I came across the page for Roosevelt-Wilson Elementary School Library. This page had 267 likes, and this librarian did an awesome job of engaging those 267 followers to her library. She welcomed students back to school and also announced that she had gotten married and had a new last name....this post alone had 65 likes...that is almost 1/4 of the total followers. She used this page to entertain students with quotes from books, such as "30 Dr. Seuss Quotes That Can Change Your Life." She posts links to awesome things, like science experiments to do at home when you're bored, free reading websites for kids, and apps to inspire kids to read. These are so helpful for parents! She does awesome activities and posts pictures afterwards. She did a story book character dress up day and a project where students decorated a pumpkin to match their favorite books. These pictures were so fun to look at! She also posts about other school activities, such as 50's day and Science Fair...which is great because she shows the followers that her page is FOR the library but also SUPPORTS the school at large. She promotes literacy through her page by announcing author visits and family reading nights. Every month she posts "Ticket Winners," which are students who win the ability to check out new books for the very first time. She announced a grant that the media center had won and took a picture of students next to the huge checks...people really responded with excitement to this post. The list could go on and on...she did an incredible job with utilizing her Facebook page to engage students and parents. I was so impressed that I sent this librarian a message thanking her for doing such a great job...I wanted her to know that she renewed my faith in Facebook for the school library! :) Check out her page: https://www.facebook.com/rwlibrary
As these pages show, there are both advantages and disadvantages to using Facebook for the school library. As the librarian at the elementary level shows us, Facebook can be an excellent way to promote literacy, share library events and pictures, and keep students involved in the collection throughout the year. The other two pages show that Facebook pages can quickly get off focus if you are not committed to use it to promote the school media center.
I created a screen cast on how to create a Facebook page. Bare with me...this was my first screen cast ever, so it is pretty rough!
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