To me, readers’ advisory is one of the most fun parts of being a librarian. I am always trying to find new ways to recommend books to kids. Like the Alameda County Library (CA), my library has a program that makes recommendations based on a questionnaire for patrons looking for a personal recommendation. Then, a few years ago, I created a virtual readers’ advisory website that made it easier for patrons to search for books without the catalog. But something was missing. Over the past few months, I started to think about a way to turn my virtual readers’ advisory into a more gamified approach. It wasn’t until I was running an in-person escape room program that I had an idea: a readers’ advisory virtual escape room!
Tag: online programming
Promoting library programs, Social media is only part of the answer
I’ve been around long enough to remember when my library system decided to centralize their social media accounts. Some of our branches didn’t care, they weren’t on social media anyway. Some of our branches almost held protests. They had branch social media teams which had slowly built up their followers through years of effort. I was on one of those teams. We had a posting schedule, we had gone to trainings, we followed tips about always including a photo and using variety in our types of posts. Having to give up control was really hard. Sorry for the long intro, I’ll get the point. Last year, during the months that our library branches were completely closed—after we had started offering online programs, but before we were able to start curbside delivery—our librarians (no, it wasn’t just me) wanted our social media guidelines to change to meet our new program promotion…
Online Storytimes: an interview about technology and connecting
From mid-March through July 2020, the Early Learning team of the Salt Lake County Library (18 branches)–Susan Spicer, EL Team Manager, and Tami Austin, EL Senior Librarian and certified Yoga instructor–lead a team of librarians that created 97 Facebook Live Storytimes, including 12 Bedtime Stories & Songs with special guests from museums and other community organizations and 18 Yoga Storytimes. They also offered weekly interactive virtual storytimes starting in June. I had the opportunity to interview these EL programming stars and ask them about the technology they used and how they faced the challenges of suddenly going online with their ages 0 to 5 programming. Interview start TB: So, what kind of equipment and recording devices have you been using and what seems to work the best? TA: Well, I cry a lot. Does that count? TB: Yes!