Week 15 Prompt

Nancy Herther's article Goodreads: Social Media Meets Reader's Advisory begins by saying that social media is becoming a standard means of communicating ideas across industries. In our present time there is no way to deny this, and I believe it is the future of marketing a library collection.
First, I would crowdsource publishing and marketing for the library, as Herther discussed in her article; a library would offer reviews online have new, maybe self-published authors be showcased. This is a way to introduce authors to the community that don't yet have a "big name." Self-published author Scott VanKirk states in Goodreads that, "Instead of paying $50 for a book which will last a couple dozen loans, or paying $50 for an ebook they can only loan out a certain number of times," he says, "libraries can get self-published books for cheap or mostly free." This gets works more publicity, which leads to more reviews, which leads to more traffic for a book and for the library. Book reviews hold a lot of weight with readers. 

Next, I would increase the library's presence on social media on platforms such as Twitter. This allows patrons that are social media users to discover new materials that are available at the library. It also allows patrons to interact with each other through comments to potentially see what others are reading and enjoying. Also through re-tweets, a larger audience will see the library's tweets. In her article The Expanding Scope of Reader's Advisory, Nann Hilyard discusses ways to utilize Twitter to the library's advantage. To make it work, the tweets have to be interesting regarding RA such as, "if you liked (this), try (this)." To engage more readers, the library could use interesting hashtags for library events such as #BannedBooksWeek or #NationalLibraryWeek. 

Social media is a great way to market a library, but not everyone prefers to get their information that way. I think a way to introduce patrons to new books and authors is to have a "Book Speed Dating" program at the library; a few new books or authors, maybe descriptions of new e-books would be available at each table. Patrons could take a few minutes at each table perusing what it new before moving on to the next table. This could lead to RA conversations between the patron and whoever is running the program, or between patrons- word of mouth is a great way to recommend books. 

Herther, N. (2013). Good Reads. Online Searcher. 37(4). 38-41. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.

Hilyard, N. (2010). The Expanding Scope of Readers’ Advisory. Public Libraries. 49(1). 10-25. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.