Tuesday, January 5, 2010

To the Fans of My Library's Facebook Page

Please, don't become a Fan! I hope you are not offended, but try to understand, it's not that I don't like you...


Late last year I was thrilled when my school library's Facebook page had a record 70 fans. When I went to see who those fans were, I was met with a lot of unfamiliar faces. Yes, there were about 30 current students, some faculty and staff, and even lots of alumni. But there were many people who I am assuming are librarians. If you are one of them, I am sorry to tell you that I "removed" you from my fan base.
Yes, it was nice to be part of the library Facebook community. And yes, I do want lots of fans, but I want fans from my school community. I want my students to browse the fans and see their friends, teachers, and siblings, not a bunch of ladies (mostly) from around the world that they do not know! I think they might be more likely to become a fan if they see their community in the library's virtual space. I want to encourage informative conversations and publicity for our school library programs, books, and research projects. Maybe when I have 200 or so fans, a couple dozen librarians will be fine. But for now, it just doesn't suit the purpose of the page.
Does your school library have a Facebook page? Have you looked through the fans to see who your online community is? Do you want fans from outside your community? I am working on getting more student fans - any ideas on how to spread the word?

2 comments:

  1. We advertised our university library's Facebook page by chalking up the pavement outside the library branches and writing notes about it on library whiteboards. Perhaps write notes in a corner of some classroom whiteboards where friendly teachers might leave them unerased?

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  2. Thanks, Deborah - those are great suggestions. I put "badges" on the LibGuides, but I haven't done an all-out campaign for the facebook page. I especially love the chalk idea.

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