I’m in a weird time right now where I have a ton of (virtual) programming coming up to share with you all over the next few weeks–sometimes two virtual storytimes a week, sometimes a full week of Pokemon programming, sometimes a special Elephant & Piggie storytime, plus the weekly graphic novel book club–but I’ve been spending most of my work time preparing for those things or other future projects that I don’t want to write to you all about until they’ve happened.
So, I’m revisiting a project I wrote about two months ago, Social Media Collection Promotion through Instagram stories. I’ve continued this project since we’ve closed with a daily Instagram story advertising an ebook, series, ebook website, or virtual program.
When I started this project, I rotated through age ranges and formats more carefully–about 40 days into making Instagram posts, I stopped being as careful and just grabbed content that felt relevant and appealing. I still try to select titles that are either immediately available through Hoopla or do not have long hold’s lists through Overdrive or Cloud Library. Even though we have opened for curbside, I am still focusing on ebooks.
Some things I’ve learned:
Posts get about 200-250 views a day no matter who I tag, use of hashtags, popularity of materials, etc..
Engagements, profile clicks, and responses (and, from what I can tell checkouts) only really occur with materials that are already very popular–I got a stronger response when I shared that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is free to download on Overdrive and that the new Hunger Games prequel is available on audio via Hoopla.
Honestly? I don’t know how much of an impact these are having. Part of my personal goal for the year was to create a long term plan for social media collection promotion, and frankly I don’t know if it is worth it, at least through Instagram stories. Most of my viewers are library staff. I’d like to potentially try less frequent posts in a different platform–even an Instagram post once every two weeks–but that wasn’t an option before the pandemic, and I know social media has a different purpose at the moment as we start to reopen.
Instagram Stories – Picture Books:
Instagram Stories – First Chapter – Chapter:
Instagram Stories – Program Advertisement & General Service:
As many of us will be telecommuting for a few weeks longer than initially anticipated, I updated some of the links below and added a few more suggested resources.
Please share other great resources in the comments!
In the next few weeks, I imagine many of us will be either working at our libraries without patrons or working at home because of the coronavirus. While we all have plenty of tasks to keep us busy, this may be an advantageous time to complete online professional development work. There are many great resources out there–some costly, but many free.
I’ve completed a few of the below programs, and others are on my to-do list. Send me additional recommendations in the comments below, and I will happily add them to the list. I’m currently only listing programs that may be especially of interest to youth or teen services librarians.
Librarians Guide to Homelessness: Created by Ryan Dowd, learn best practices for library staff on how to understand and better serve the homeless population. Includes tips on how to deal with and de-escalate common situations and issues and make staff feel empowered and safe. May only be available to Ohio librarians.
Mel’s Desk Professional Storytime Development: Not quite an official course like many of these other offerings, but may be the most useful in practical day-to-day storytime improvement. Practice storytime flow, create your own storytime mission statement, and make and evaluate your storytime top 40 list.
Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth: In-depth diversity training specifically designed for youth librarians in public and school library settings. Broken down into three sections covering foundational knowledge, transforming your practice, and continuing the journey. Time to Complete: 30+ hours (not including activity and program planning and execution)
Raising the Bar Early Literacy Training: Access early literacy storytime training by the New York Public Library including a plethora of valuable resources for early ages. Time to Complete: 10+ hours
Sesame Strong: Access bundles of resources focusing on family engagement, particularly focusing on hosting mini-programs with parents or caregivers. Time to Complete: 3+ hours
Supercharged Storytime: Discover ways to improve your storytimes with intentionality, interactivity, and assessment. Time to Complete: 10+ hours
Supporting Caregiving Families: Learn about serving families of military personnel and veterans in particular with helpful vocabulary, digital resources, and hands-on activities. Time to Complete: 3+ hours
Trauma Basics for Youth Workers: Learn the basics for practicing and implementing trauma-informed care in youth settings including what trauma is, how it impacts the brain, and how to foster interpersonal safety. Two-hour course is free with options for lengthier in-depth training at a cost (8-hours or 30-hours). Time to Complete: 2 hours
Webinars
Advancing Racial Equality in Your Library: This webinar, presented by the Race Forward Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), presents an overview of concepts and approaches libraries are using to reduce racial barriers in their work.
Conflict as Opportunity: Library Restorative Practices for Youth: Pima County (AZ) Public Library (PCPL) has radically shifted its approach toward interacting with youth in violation of the library’s Customer Code of Conduct. Using restorative justice practices, PCPL created a justice board with community partners to facilitate more mindful approaches to incidents involving youth, focusing on creating opportunities for growth and engagement rather than barriers to library access.
Countdown to Coding: Computer Science for Preschoolers: Learn ways to incorporate coding concepts into storytimes and playtimes for 3-5 year olds.
Improving the Quality of Youth Programs: Through a series of trainings and assessment tools from the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, Houston (TX) Public Library made changes to create engaging programs where youth want to be instead of have to be.
Thinking Sideways: Compuational Thinking and Early Literacy: This on-demand webinar explorers components of computational thinking, what it looks like in early childhood, and how library staff use developmentally appropriate activities to support whole-child development. Young children can become successful problem-solvers, creative thinkers, and lifelong learners at the library.
Using Your Library’s Virtual Presence to Reach Users with Disabilities: Is your library working towards improving online accessibility to customers with disabilities? Have you developed new programs and services that intentionally welcome individuals with disabilities, but are struggling to connect with your target audience? Developing inclusive library services will be more effective if your library connects with the disability community, and leveraging your organization’s virtual presence will help you do that.
Championing Children’s Services Toolkit: Encompasses a variety of easy to use advocacy resources to empower librarians to engage their communities to build healthy successful futures for children.
Middle Grade Magic Virtual Conference: While the conference occurred on April 8, login to view excellent presentations from many diverse authors and information about upcoming children’s books.
Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit: When public and school librarians and library workers engage in collaboration, community members reap the benefits. This toolkit includes context and suggestions for creating partnerships of all sizes.
Revisiting the Potential uses of Media in Children’s Education: Journalist Chris Berdik interviewed more than 20 experts from a range of fields, including developmental psychologists, educators, media historians, app developers, as well as education nonprofit leaders and funders, to understand some of the lessons that can be learned from the successes and failures of children’s educational media over the past 50 years. Together, they explore what we must do to make the most of new technologies and the changing role of families and teachers, and grapple with questions about media, learning, and educational equity.
Virtual Events
April 25-26: YALLSTAYATHOME: Features panels and speakers ranging from middle grade through young adult lit.
May 1-2: Everywhere Book Fest: A virtual gathering of kidlit authors, illustrators, and books that will bring the book festival experience to young readers everywhere.
May 27: SLJ Day of Dialogue: Learn from authors, librarians, and educators from around the globe in this first-time-virtual event.
Cost, Available Anytime
ALSC Archived Webinars: If you are an ALSC member, these one-hour educational sessions are free. If not, each webinar costs $25 to access. Many topics available from advocacy and storytime to STEAM, child care,diversity, early literacy, and more. Some webinars available to everyone for free.
Spanish for Libraries from the iSchool @ UW-Madison: Learn vocabulary, pronunciation, common phrases, and other skills as you progress through the course by watching videos, listening to recordings, and reading relevant literature. Available March 27. Cost: $100
Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca: Learn how to successfully deliver the various elements of bilingual storytimes, either on their own or with a bilingual community partner. Participants will discover new books, rhymes, songs, plans and resources that they can immediately put to use in their bilingual storytime programs. Time to Complete: 4 weeks Cost: $175 Next Session: Begins May 4
Cultural Competence for Librarians: For the library profession, which has historically struggled with developing a workforce that is reflective of the communities being served, these changing times will require cultural competence, defined by the Association of College and Research libraries as “a congruent set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a person or group to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (ACRL, 2012). While cultural competence has become a part of some library and information science programs, for librarians currently working in the field, cultural competence may be an enigma. This course will introduce librarians to the concept of cultural competence in the library and information science profession. Time to Complete: 4 weeks Cost: $175 Next Session: Begins May 4
Foundations of Early Literacy: Both using and expanding on the early literacy information in the Every Child Ready to Read® initiative, you will become familiar with the early literacy skills and practices. Building on this knowledge, we will explore ways to apply them to your work, including ways to make library environments supportive of staff sharing early literacy information and activities with parents and caregivers. Time to Complete: 4 weeks Cost: $175 Next Session: Begins May 4
Library Resources and Services for Patrons on the Autism Spectrum: This course will provide librarians with a better understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder, effective means of communicating individuals with ASD, strategies for designing inviting and accessible library environments and programming, and suggestions for building relationships with community partners to better serve the needs of patrons with ASD. Time to Complete: 4 weeks Cost: $175 Next Session: Begins May 4
Practical Library Services for Grade School Kids (Kindergarten through Second Grade): R. Lynn Baker will provide information and hands-on practice to help library staff create intentional, literacy-based programs for children in kindergarten through second grade. You’ll gain practical knowledge and skills and an understanding of how to put them to work. Cost: $175 Next Session: Begins April 27
Before social distancing days, I was a member of my library’s Marketing the Collection Committee (I suppose I still am, that sounded kind of depressing). One of my personal work goals for this year was to promote our children’s collection using social media.
A week before we closed, I posted my first few Instagram Stories sharing some of my favorite non-fiction graphic novel series (Science Comics, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, Maker Comics). I created a detailed spreadsheet with the books I was going to highlight every two weeks for the rest of the year, coordinating titles with library events and seasonal activities. Books started piling up at my desk, so I would have physical copies for those 15-second videos.
And then we were sent home, and priorities shifted.
Looking on the bright side of things, our closure allowed me to explore our digital content in a way I hadn’t before. Personally, I checked out ebooks regularly, but, other than when I was on vacation, I was much more likely to pick up a physical book than download an ebook, if I had a choice.
I shifted my plans–that spreadsheet went out the window, and instead, with our marketing department’s approval, I started posting one Instagram story a day focusing on a different ebook or eaudiobook (without having to film myself–it’s faster without worrying about retakes and word choice and backgrounds and technology hiccups).
My personal Instagram Story parameters are below (much of this is adapted from the instructions I was given by marketing before I started):
One story a day.
I rotate through four topics:
eaudibooks for families
ebook for ages 0-5
ebook for ages 6-8
ebook for ages 9-11
Mix up the time you post stories (this often ends up being afternoon or evening for me, based on when I remember)
Add flare. (I’m still learning how to do this.)
Add stickers
Tag authors when possible – creates some great interactions!
Add video when possible–I record my phone screen using the free app XRecorder to show myself scrolling through a list of favorite titles or playing a clip from a Weston Woods book video from Hoopla.
Try not to add too much text. (I fail at this regularly.)
Focus on ebook services that don’t involve long hold lists when possible–for me, this means I promote titles on Hoopla or Cloud Library more than the Overdrive library shared across my state.
I am planning to figure out Later.com by the end of the week to have these scheduled instead of having to post each day. I keep opening the website, staring at the home page, not immediately seeing how to schedule a story, and getting distracted by something else. I blame still getting used to working from home.
Some sample Instagram Stories without video:
And some sample Instagram Stories with video (that you can’t see play below, but may make more sense with that information):
This is just a small piece in my library’s overall social media plan while we are closed to the public. What is your library doing? Share your awesome ideas in the comments!
My library, like so many others across the country, has closed due to growing concerns related to the coronavirus. We are planning to provide online content to our patrons in the meantime.
So many folks are collecting fantastic lists of resources–I’m including some of my personal favorites over a series of posts, starting with accessing eContent.
Library Services
One of my favorite tips (that I use year round) is to remember that if your family has multiple library cards, or if you have cards to multiple libraries, each one may offer you access to some of the same eresources–but allowing you to get more content. If you organize your accounts and cards, you may actually be able to check out 18 or 30 or 50 items on a website like Hoopla each month. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it might be able to help some families.
Hoopla
Hoopla is awesome because everything is available to everyone with no waiting (though you are capped on the number of items per month). I talk about Hoopla during my book talks and am a regular user, so I am fairly familiar with its great content.
Some personal favorite titles that could be good to highlight to your patrons include:
Series or Authors, Kids Chapter Books:
39 Clues (audio only)
Amelia Fang
Artemis Fowl
Captain Underpants (audio only)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior
Dork Diaries (audio only)
Fablehaven
Fairy Tale Reform School
I Survived (audio only)
Isle of the Lost
Ivy and Bean
Judy Moody
Kingdom Keepers
Mercy Watson
Minecraft (Mark Cheverton)
My Weird School
Nikki and Deja
Origami Yoda
Percy Jackson
Ramona Quimby (audio only)
Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan Presents
School of Good and Evil
Serafina and the Black Cloak
A Series of Unfortunate Events (audio only)
Sisters Grimm
Spirit Animals (audio only)
Stick Cat
Stick Dog (not all titles)
The Terrible Two
Trapped in a Video Game
Upside Down Magic (audio only)
Warriors
Wayside School
Whatever After (audio only)
Wings of Fire (audio only)
Zoey and Sassafras
Single Titles,Kids Chapter Books:
50 Wacky Things Animals Do by Tricia Martineau
Anyone but Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp
AstroNuts Mission One by Jon Schieszka
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting by Joe Ballarini
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Black Panther by Ronald L. Smith
Bow Wow by Spencer Quinn (audio only)
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (audio only)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (audio only)
A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot (audio only)
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (audio only)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (audio only)
The Great Penguin Rescue by Sandra Markle
Great White Shark vs. Killer Whale by Thomas K. Adamson
Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Jinxed by Amy McCuloch
The New Kid by Jerry Craft (audio only)
Poop Detectives by Ginger Wadsworth
Posted by John David Anderson
Refugee by Alan Gratz (audio only)
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (audio only)
Squirrel Meets World by Shannon Hale
Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman (audio only)
Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors (audio only)
Picture Books & Beginning Readers:
5-Minute Stories (not all titles)
Ana & Andrew
Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins
Biscuit (all titles)
Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Synder
Clark the Shark (all titles)
Curious George (all titles)
Fancy Nancy (all titles)
Five Little Monkeys (all titles)
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry (audio only)
I’m Brave! by Kate McMullan
Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
Mo Willems titles (audio & movie only)
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Mr. Putter & Tabby
Pete the Cat (all titles)
Pinkalicious (all titles)
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Scaredy Squirrel
Splat the Cat (all titles)
Unicorn Day by Diana Murray
Waiting by Kevin Henkes
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
Graphic Novels:
Artemis Fowl (series)
The Backstagers (series)
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Big Nate (series)
Dance Class (series)
DC Super Hero Girls (series)
Dear Justice League by Michael Northrop
Diana: Princess of the Amazons by Shannon Hale
Earth Before Us (series)
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Ghost Friends Forever (series)
Goldie Vance (series)
Guinea PIG, Pet Shop Private Eye (series)
Illegal by Eoin Colfer
Invisible Emmie by Terri Linenson
Lumberjanes (series)
Miles Morales (series)
Moonstruck (series)
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales (series)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series)
Phoebe and Her Unicorn (series)
Plants vs Zombies (series)
Poptropica (series)
Red’s Planet by Eddie Pittman
Rutabaga: The Adventure Chef (series)
Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn
The Sisters (series)
Warriors (series)
Libby (OverDrive)
OverDrive‘s content will vary depending on what your library or consortium has added to it. However, with services being used by many people at once, this might be an ideal time to highlight a special OverDrive feature–“It’s Your Lucky Day.” This provides patrons with a select number of popular titles that are immediately available. Content changes regularly, but at this moment, I could check out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and On the Come Up without waiting.
RBdigital
If your library subscribes, RBdigital is an awesome resource for kids magazines, all immediately available. My favorites on this website include:
American Girl
Animal Tales
ChickaDEE
Highlights for Children (in all its ages and iterations)
National Geographic Kids
Beyond Library Services
As much as we want to boost our library econtent, realistically, even just over the course of three weeks, the above resources are going to dry up. A card’s 10 Hoopla checkouts can only go so far, and the best content on Overdrive will quickly have long holds.
I’m including some other suggestions for ways to access econtent for kids, for free or cheaply, below.
Free:
Brightly Storytime: Watch YouTube videos of great stories being read aloud.
Let’s Keep Reading! Author Interactive Content: Great list of author live presentations, online chats, and more created to add quality content to the Internet during the next few weeks of quarantine.
Story Pirates Podcast: Funny stories and songs, often based on short stories written by real kids. Great for ages 6-10.
Audible (30 day free trial, 1 audio a month, $14.99/month): This service is expensive for what you get (only one audiobook a month), but it is by far the most user-friendly audiobook service that I’ve tried. Only recommended for regular audiobook listeners or for the free trial.
Epic! (30 day free trial, $9 a month): Immediate access to 35,000 picture books, early readers, chapter books, and learning videos. Includes popular titles like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Goosebumps, Princess in Black, Big Nate, Guinness World Records, and more.
Kindle Unlimited (30 day free trial, $9.99/month): Access a ton of titles from the Kindle library. While not everything is included (the collection is actually fairly limited), this can be your cheapest way to access many popular titles (that goes beyond the kid-exclusive content available at Epic!). All Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, and Big Nate books are available. While you are limited to 10 downloaded titles at a time, you are not limited to ten titles a month (like Hoopla). May be ideal for particularly voracious young readers. A great breakdown on the pros and cons here.
Book Apps:
Barnyard Dance! by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Byron Carton Collection #1 by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $4.99
The Cat in the Hat by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Disney (iOS) – $5.99
Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
Even Monsters Get Sick by Busy Bee Studios (iOS) – $0.99
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
The Going to Bed Book by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
Goodnight Construction Site by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $3.99
Goodnight Moon by Loud Crow (iOS) – $4.99
Green Eggs and Ham by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
The Monster at the End… by Sesame Street (iOS) – $4.99
Moo, Baa, La La La! by Loud Crow (iOS) – $2.99
One Fish Two Fish – Dr. Seuss by Oceanhouse (iOS, Android) – $2.99
What other e-resources do you know about to help your patrons access ebooks and the like while stuck at home? Mention them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list above!
