Marketing my Library

Part of the responsibility of being an effective school librarian is making a library a place that is welcoming and accommodating. It is also important to spend a little time marketing the library to everyone who should be using it.

Since my French classes are dwindling and fading out, I have had a little more time to focus on that very thing:  Marketing the library.  I spent my summer developing some ideas and ways to make the library more visible to everyone, including students, teachers, community and beyond.  I decided early on that I was going to start a blog or a website to promote what we are doing. I also decided I needed to promote our new releases and our current programs.  I spent a lot of time organizing Aminoto videos and making google presentations that can be embedded into numerous platforms.

I decided to use Blogger to create my website.  I started with Google Sites, but I didn't like the idea of the page just growing and not making a nice archive on the sidebar.  Blogger allowed for an archive so people could only see a limited amount of information and be able to look to the side for more.  I wanted information to remain and not be deleted.  I looked at other sites as well, but since I use Blogger for my main blog, I found it easier to build it all there.

I made a fancy movie about getting to know the library.  It is merely photos of different places.  I have done several screencasts as well.  All of them are posted on my library YouTube channel. My goal is to market as well as teach everyone.  I started doing Tech Tuesdays this year, inviting teachers to come to the library to learn tools. I have been sending the students emails with little tips and tricks.  I even started making little surveys to get kids to check their emails.  We give away little prizes here and there for answering the surveys.

Aside from making videos, I make a lot of signage and do a lot of advertising on social media.  In fact, I am a little bit of a social media guru.  Everything is mingled. I post on one, then all the others post the info. I have placed QR codes around the library and other parts of the school.  Hopefully my students are accessing the information and looking at what we have.

It takes a lot to make the school library a place for everyone and hopefully, these little efforts of mine will make mine an even better place.