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moose dressed in a sweater in a library

Social media happens so fast. I mean, just over a week ago, none of us considered making a banana peel part of our morning routine. So in between the monthly “Recently in Academic Libraries” posts, I pull together regular updates on what AcadLibs are doing on social. Please enjoy these recent highlights. 

Always check the calendar

Academic libraries stepped up their game this year for April Fools. Perhaps I wasn’t as attentive in the past, but I noticed more accounts engaging in what was obviously planned content for this internet high holy day. Carroll University Library pulled a blast from the past and decided to shrink all their books. Amherst College Library introduced their campus’s first silent dorm. Cornell University Library took flight with its latest mobile branch.

I honestly had to do a double take and remind myself what day it was with American University Library’s new coffee ad as well as Boston College University’s latest collection development priority (spoiler: it’s dolls).

The most popular trend by far was the inclusion of animals. Both Wash U and William & Mary offered therapy dogs for checkout. Not to be outdone, LSU advertised therapy tigers. And the University of Albany began lending horses. Animals became librarians as well. Catholic University Libraries hired Catalog Mary McCatFace and the University of Idaho hired the first ever moose librarian (seen above).

But the post that shocked me the most was this one from Sacred Heart University. Nope, nope, nope.

Poking fun at ourselves

Recently at my place of work, we’ve been experimenting with creating more engaging content that reminds students about our library’s policies, but in ways that feel non-confrontational (e.g. logging out of library computers, not taking our staplers, and not being too loud in study rooms). So I enjoyed seeing similar tactics employed by University of Wyoming Libraries to recognize difficult wayfinding needs. But it was K-State Libraries who hit the nail on the head with their gentle shaming of students who leave their belongings unattended in the library. So trusting!

Watch on TikTok

I feel pretty

Anytime I am struggling to come up with a piece of content, I know I can always count on beautiful photography and high-quality b-roll to carry the day. This is what makes UNC Greensboro’s “mindfulness moment” work so well, as well as Georgia Tech’s “go to the library.” But it has been the recent “not my house” trend that really gave libraries a chance to re-use some of those stellar shots. Here it is by Mizzou Libraries and Yale Libraries. Similarly, the “get me to god’s country” offers the same opportunity, as demonstrated by UC Santa Barbara Library.

And finally…

Someone had to do it. Not at all surprised to see Utah Valley University be the one to take the plunge.

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man with clip board inspecting a magnetic tape machine

When it comes to communications and outreach work, I think we often fall prey to the availability bias. This is the tendency to favor what is right in front of you, or what is most readily called to mind, and to assume it is the right or best available option. Case in point: Recently I was having a conversation with my team about how to best promote an event. Someone chimed in with “Put in on the homepage. That way everyone will see it.”

Breathe in.

As librarians, we see our homepage every day. It’s where we often start when helping students with their research. It’s how we most readily access our policies documents and forms. It’s where we go to look up another librarian’s contact information (because for some ungodly reason that information isn’t readily available in Outlook). 

Unfortunately, that’s not how non-librarians and staff experience our website. When most users come to our homepage, they immediately click on “Hours,” “Group Study Room Reservations” or the library catalog search. Most never scroll below the fold to see any of the promotional material posted there. Moreover, the 25% of users who access our site on handheld devices don’t see the promo content because it’s hidden in the mobile interface. A whopping 0.02% of users click on the promo material on our homepage.

That promo material has a purpose, but it’s not there to drive traffic (that’s a story for a different post). The point to understand is that the data doesn’t support the assumption that the homepage is a highly visible space. Or more specifically, that high visibility leads to conversion. It’s not like digital platforms such as Spotify or YouTube where users hang out for long periods of time, and which can use banner ads and takeovers: on our homepage, users are on their way to somewhere else and rarely come back in a single session.

The same could be said of fliers posted in the library. We walk by these spaces multiple times a day into and out of work, on our way to the bathrooms, or to a meeting. But that isn’t how most users experiences our spaces. Most users pop in to quickly grab a resource, to print something out, or to meet up with friends in a study room. At best, they might make two passes by a poster or a flier, and usually on the way to somewhere else. There are effective ways to use print media in a library context that might catch a student’s attention, but they don’t include a flier posted to a wall or sitting in an acrylic holder on a service desk. 

This isn’t to say that the library homepage and fliers are not somewhat effective. Perhaps in the “long tail” of library outreach, they do make a difference, especially over longer periods of time. But if we’re using metrics like engagement per visit, the numbers are essentially zero. 

Intentional outreach like email marketing, tabling, word of mouth via faculty, and social media (to an extent) are far more effective methods. The number of people I can get to scan a QR code to register for a workshop by talking to them 1:1 at a tabling event, or to click on an e-resources link in a personalized email, or engage with an entertaining social media post reminding students about a library policy, is far higher than any website embed or printed flier. Again, this isn’t to say those latter methods don’t move the needle at all, but our faith in their efficacy is grossly overestimated, I suspect, due to our overfamiliarity with them. 

I might even go so far as to suggest that passive outreach, like fliers and website posts, is more about making us feel better. We feel we’ve done something. We can brush off ours hands and go home. Promotion achievement unlocked! But the data doesn’t hold up. To effectively connect with students and faculty, you need intention. You need strategy. You need a plan. And you need to follow the data. 

Breathe out.

What I’m reading

🫣🇺🇸✏️ The Erasure of Diverse American Histories by Trevor Dawes. “American history is not a single narrative but a complex tapestry of interrelated stories. When we attempt to simplify this tapestry to showcase only certain threads, we not only do a disservice to historical accuracy but also deny future generations the full understanding of how our nation developed through the contributions of people from all backgrounds.”

🤝👊🏛️ Colleges Face a Prisoner’s Dilemma by David Asch. “If universities can see past the outcomes of any single encounter, and can reawaken the mutual trust they have long operated with, they may reset the terms of engagement between higher education and the state”

Links to the past

  • 1 year ago: At least one of these books is still in my TBR pile.
  • 5 years ago: I was only just beginning to understand what quarantine would do to my work-life balance, but I was coping as best as I could.
  • 10 years ago: I was publishing, presenting, and (most importantly) building a Battledecks competition for ACRL 2015. We should bring those back.
  • 15 years ago: I was reading André Cossette’s “Humanism and Libraries.” Wow, this is the first time I’ve added the 15 year marker to this section!

Overheard online

If they make a John Wick 5, I want it to be set in afterlife and Wick is contracted by the ruler of said afterlife to kill renegade demons/spirits. The payment is to be reunited with his wife and the puppy from the first film. The final scene shows him opening his wallet to look at his newly resurrected identity and it says John Constantine. — @fskornia on Mastodon 

banner image: Atlas Negative Collection Images on flickr

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Bottle of Epiphany 2020 Grenache and wine glass

It’s been a minute since I posted a wine tasting review! I’ve spent the last month experimenting with classic martini recipes and not paying as much attention to my first love, grapes. So it was refreshing to come back to something local with a distinct California flavor.

On the nose, there is raspberry and chaparral. Light to medium bodied, with hints of oak, rose water, and tart fruit. Maybe licorice as well? Good tannin balance and a tight/focused structure and a delicate finish. I would pair this with cheese and almonds. Possibly a light chocolate. Great to drink right now, but you could also hold back for 3-5 years.

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black pub holding a tennis ball chew toy

“Have mercy now, save poor Bob, if you please.” – Robert Johnson, Cross Road Blues, 1936

I am at a crossroads. If I decide to stay in academic libraries, I am well-positioned at this moment to either (1) move into a more administrative/leadership role or (2) move into a more creative, content development role. I have enough experience and have built enough skills in both areas to pursue one or the other more deeply and each offers a path to greater satisfaction at work. Regarding the former, I enjoy managing large, complex projects and supporting a team of skilled employees. Regarding the latter, I also enjoy delving into creating something that is fundamentally unique to my talents. 

In my current position, it seems unlikely that I would have the space or resources to pursue both paths simultaneously. Still, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be successful in either role: a good manager and a good content creator. What follows is a short list of attributes/habits that I find useful. Perhaps I’ll be utilizing one of these sets more fully in the near future. Or perhaps I’ll continue to cultivate both to the best of my ability. 🤷‍♂️

Tips for being a good manager

  • Your employees don’t support you; you support them. Start every day by asking your team “what do you need?” 
  • Start from a place of curiosity, not criticism. When your team comes to you with an idea, begin by framing it this way: “this could be successful if…”
  • Make your team part of the story. Regularly tell your team how their work fits into the bigger narrative. 
  • And then, give them the space to write it their own way.
  • If you have to say no, try to think of at least one thing that would “get you to yes.” That might not change your answer, but it could change how you both approach the issue.
  • Always assume your employees want to be as successful as you do.
  • Staying informed is a two-way conversation. You shouldn’t rely entirely on your team to keep you in the loop. At the same time, they shouldn’t rely entirely on you to follow up on things. It’s a relationship and it takes both parties to do the work.

Tips for being a good content creator

  • Constantly be learning new skills and closely examine what the best in the field are doing.
  • Block out your schedule so you can have longer periods of uninterrupted work.
  • Keep the number of projects on your plate as small as possible. Three is good rule of thumb.
  • Focus on quality even if it takes more time. This is what will set your work apart from others’… not how “responsive” you are to emails. 
  • Have a standard workflow but be willing to abandon it if you have the option for uninterrupted focus time.
  • Never skip the pre-production stage. Plan, plan, plan.
  • Whatever step in the creative process you’re avoiding, that’s where you’ll find joy. 
  • Take a break if it’s no longer fun. There’s no problem a good walk can’t resolve.

What I’m reading 

🧑‍💻🏴‍☠️🪴 Why Personal Websites Matter More Than Ever by Joan Westenberg. “Personal websites matter – now, more than ever – because we can see, clearly, with our own eyes, what happens when a handful of companies control and own the medium and the message. It gets silenced, suppressed, and subtly reshaped without us.”

🧑🏽‍🏫✊🏽🎓 The Authoritarian Endgame on Higher Education by NYTimes. “For people in higher education, this is a moment both to be bolder about trumpeting its strengths and to be more reflective about addressing its weaknesses. […] University presidents seem to be hoping that if they keep their heads down, the threat will pass — or at least pass by their campus. They are unlikely to be so fortunate.”

Links to the past 

  • 1 year ago: I was singing the praises of using email marketing for outreach to college students. Some folks interpreted this as “libraries don’t need social” but that’s not what I said. Social media, as I’ve shown in recent posts, has a significant impact on how students view the library’s role on campus and how they feel about it. Feelings matter. Even if they can’t be quantified. 
  • 5 years ago: Nothing. It was March 2020. 🦠 I wasn’t focused on blogging at the time, though in hindsight I wish I had been.
  • 10 years ago: I was doing the “Day in the Life of a Librarian” post. We should all do that again.

Overheard online 

This historian gives you explicit permission to delete and destroy each and every bit of data (pun intended) that can put you or others in danger. Lives Saved >>> Historical Record Preserved – @lavaeolus on Mastodon

banner photo: Meet Poppy, the newest member of the family.

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My colleague Ray Andrade and I recently published an article on our outreach successes (and some failures) with first-year college students. We utilize a home-grown mix of programming, communications, and 1:1 connections to foster student engagement.

Starting with the knowledge that using the library within their first semester at college is correlated with academic success, the outreach team and the Hannon Library have employed a variety of tactics to get students in the door. By creating engaging orientation videos, promoting the library at in-person campus fairs, fostering word of mouth by working directly with niche communities, leveraging existing communication channels and email marketing, and hosting an open house early in the semester, we have cultivated an ecosystem in which the library’s brand can take root and thrive.

Read the whole article at Marketing Library Services (now integrated with Computers in Libraries).

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praying mantis

The wheel is spinning, but the hamster is dead. – Swedish expression

The incongruity between the academic year and the calendar year has never felt so out of joint as it does right now. Already, the goals I set in June 2024 (which is when I set work goals for the academic year) feel a world removed. I’m ready to move on to other projects. While there is much to enjoy about working in academia, the temporal misalignment with the rest of the country’s annual work cycle is among the small annoyances.

Still, academics on the traditional semester schedule often have the weeks between late December and early January completely off so I’ve used that time to reflect and realign my work and play to my core values. (Previously: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021)

This year, I’m hoping to finish the “reading and watching all of Shakespeare” project I stated in 2024. I made it through more than half the works before burning out in September. Now that I’ve had some time to read off the bard, I’m ready to tackle the second half of his oeuvre. Additionally, I hope to continue my occasional habit of posting “Recently in Academic Libraries” news roundups. I immensely enjoyed that process, so my goal this year is to find a way to work it into my schedule.

My theme for 2025 is “balance.” Prioritizing sleep and my physical health this past year was a huge boon to my mental health. I plan to continue that and additionally add in a new factor: music. My partner and I bought a piano last fall. I am never happier than when I’m playing music. It’s been two decades since I played (and I was never very good), but I intend to pick it back up. And possibly throw in a few additional instruments as well. 

My ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of time and attention I give to [library] work. It doesn’t bring me joy in the same way that it used to, so rather than getting mired in that feeling, I want to draw my attention toward those activities that make me happy.

What I’m reading 

🪧⛺️🚫 The Race to Pacify Protesters [paywalled] by Katherine Mangan. Universities are losing whatever moral high ground they once occupied. 

🇺🇸🕊️❤️ Jimmy Carter, Peacemaking President Amid Crises, Is Dead at 100 [gift article] Peter Baker and Roy Reed. May we all be so good with the time we have that folks wish there were more people like us around when we pass. 

🛶🕵️‍♀️📝 Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt by Jacqueline Kehoe. It’s great that folks are diving into the history of the lands where they sit. Even greater that they are working alongside indigenous communities to remap our understanding of urbanized areas. 

Links to the past 

  • 1 year ago: I was being very domestic this day.
  • 5 years ago: My son’s world is infinitely more interesting than my own.
  • 10 years ago: I have never not been obsessed with productivity systems. It’s just who I am.

Overheard online 

You may not believe in Count Orlok, but Count Orlok believes in you. – @chronodm on Mastodon

banner photo: found this lovely lady in the garden this past weekend

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“Staff expect us to create posters and social media posts for every program but they’re also creating programs that the community didn’t ask for. So, when no one registers, marketing gets blamed. You have to have some tough skin to work in library marketing because everyone thinks they’re a better marketer and everyone is a critic.” (source: The State of Library Marketing in 2025: Survey Reveals New Obstacles and Frustrations)

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badge from lmcc24 with my name

It’s difficult to summarize all that I’ve taken away from LMCC 2024. But I’ll try. 😁 This annual gathering of library marketing professionals reaffirms the value of all the time, effort, and skill I put in to the work I do as an outreach librarian. I’ll write more about this later after I’ve had time to process it all, but here are three key themes that emerged:

1. “If you want to capture students’ attention, it has to be worth paying attention to” (or, effective library marketing is high-quality). No one will know about your services, collections, or programs if you don’t first capture their attention, so make content that is first and foremost entertaining and engaging. If it doesn’t stop them from scrolling, it’s not going to get any eyeballs.

2. “If you’re talking to everyone you’re talking to no one” (or, effective library marketing is strategic). Your audience is not a monolith and they don’t want to be treated as one. Plan your outreach with intention if you want to have any chance of connecting what you offer to what students and faculty want.

3. “Let the professionals cook.” (or, effective library marketing is appropriately skilled and staffed). Libraries are finally starting to recognize that good marketing requires hiring folks who bring the requisite skills and giving them the space to make things happen. I can’t tell you the number of people I met this year who said they were the first professional marketer their library had ever hired. High-quality and strategic marketing takes time and experience.

Other takeaways include reaffirmation of my intention to lean more into video, especially high-quality video content; and the need to pull more analytics that might correlate my outreach work with library usage patterns.

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Back in January, I joined the board of the Library Marketing and Communications Group, the team that runs the Library Marketing and Communications Conference. This annual gathering of library folks involved in marketing, communications, public relations, social media, and outreach in academic, public, and special libraries, is my favorite professional event of the year.

The first LMCC was held in 2015 in Dallas, TX, with nearly 200 attendees. I first attended LMCC the following year in 2016. In the decade since, the conference has more than doubled in size; and this year will be my fifth time attending.

I’ve written before about how much I enjoy this conference. What makes it so rewarding is the opportunity to be with folks who understand my day-to-day:

“Regardless of whether we work in academic libraries, public libraries, as librarians or as professional staff, we all speak the same language. We understand that not everything can go on the website. We know that fliers are a net waste of everyone’s time. We know that creating social media content is a specialized skill that few people actually do well. We realize that more promotion does not equal more awareness. We understand the power of storytelling. We value having a consistent brand. And yes, we all spend too much times on our phones, but secretly (or not) we enjoy it.” 

If you’re going to LMCC 2024 this week, stop me and say hello! I look forward to seeing you there. Here is what I’m planning to attend:

Tuesday, Nov. 12

  • 9:00a: Board Planning Retreat
  • 1:00p: Pre-Conference: Maximize Your Library Impact With Strategic Collection Promotion by Angela Hursh and Caleigh Haworth

Wednesday, Nov. 13

  • 9:00a: Very Demure, Very Mindful, and Very Asian Futures in Library Marketing by Michelle Li
  • 10:00a: Bite-Size Market Research Tools: Micro Surveys and Usability Studies by Mark Aaron Polger
  • 11:15a: Marketing Library Services to Transgender Patrons by Zephyr Rankin
  • 1:30p: Social Media Strategy Survivor: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast by Tanner Lewey
  • 3:00p: Beg, Borrow, Steal: Finding and Implementing Ideas for Library Outreach by Meghan Kowalski
  • 4:30p: 10th Anniversary Opening Night Reception

Thursday, Nov. 14

  • 9:00a: Been There, Done That, Do It Again – A Conversation with Experienced Library Marketers with Jennifer Burke, Meghan McCorkell, and Nicole Fowles
  • 10:00am: IDEA in Action: Your Voices Best Practices – Empowering Students, Building Bridges by Kara Price, Laura Dowell, and Michele Villagran
  • 11:15am: Building a Video Powerhouse: Project Management, Quality Standards, and Staff Development for Effective Library Marketing by Rachel Yzaguirre
  • Lunch
  • 1:30pm: Embracing Short Form Video by Keith Keslerand Krystal Ruiz
  • 4:15pm: LMCC Open House

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men and women painting on a landscape model

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how academic libraries structure their support for external communications. By “external” I mostly mean on campus, though sometimes this can include communications beyond campus, especially in the case of large state universities, R1 schools, and those with fundraising needs.

This isn’t a topic I have explored in the published literature yet, but I have been poking around library websites to see what info I can glean from staff directories and organizational charts. The various configurations for managing comms I have found generally fall into four types (I call them “tiers” below), though there appears to be little consistency beyond these broad categories. If a research study on this does not already exist, I would find it worthwhile to investigate it further.

In my experience, there are three factors that make academic library communications effective: consistency, strategy, and quality. That is:

  1. creating consistent messaging, branding, and tone; 
  2. developing strategic objectives and determining metrics of success; and 
  3. maintaining a high level of quality content production and execution. 

Of the four models for communications outlined below, only libraries in tiers 1 and 2 can guarantee high levels of all three factors. This is not to say that libraries within tiers 3-4 cannot be successful, but only that it is far more difficult.

Tier 1: The comms team

I suspect this mostly exists in R1 institutions or large campuses with multiple libraries. This is when the library employs an entire team of professionals to manage its communications needs. This might include a full time social media manager, graphic designer, writer, project manager, event manager, development officer, and/or videographer. Assuming that everyone on the team has the requisite skills and experience, this is the most desirable option and the one that securely enables consist, strategic, and high quality communications.

Tier 2: The comms director

Most likely to be found at mid-size university libraries. This is when you have a single full-time person entirely dedicated to communications. Their work might also involve planning and hosting events, and may vary considerably depending on (1) whether they are a librarian or staff and (2) whether they are housed within the reference department or administration. Assuming this person has the requisite skills and experience, this is also a desirable option, though without the balance and support of a team, there is the risk that either consistency, strategy, or quality could fail over time (also, burnout is a significant threat). Nonetheless, it’s a viable option.

Tier 3: The comms hat

Also may be found at mid-size universities, but more likely to be found in smaller colleges. This is when you have a full-time staffer who has been given the extra hat of communications. This might be a solo reference and instruction librarian, a collections librarian, or even a department head but it’s not their primary role. It’s almost a certainty that one of the three success factors will, out of necessity, fall by the wayside. 

Tier 4: The comms committee

This is the least desirable arrangement: communications by committee. While I don’t doubt there are some effective uses of this model out there, I would bet most are ineffective relative to the time and effort involved. This is when no one is in charge of outreach and it just happens depending on the variable bandwidth of the members of the group. Even with the best of intentions and structure, you cannot guarantee a consistent tone or level of quality. 

Finding the right fit

Academic library outreach and communications is a different beast than what one may experience in other types of libraries. For one, an academic library’s primary audience is a limited and captive one: students and faculty. Moreover, the distance, both physical and conceptual, that messaging needs to travel is relatively short. It’s in the secondary and tertiary audiences that variety comes into play: are donors a key demo? Campus senior leadership? State officials? How important is reaching the off-campus community? 

I don’t know what might be a best practice when it comes to structuring an outreach department, but I would venture that most libraries evolve from Tier 4 to Tier 1 over time, though most will never reach beyond Tier 2 due to staffing constraints. What I do know is that working in team environment has a number of benefits, including exponentially increased bandwidth, a mutually reinforced creativity engine, and a burnout buffer. However, it is essential that all members bring the requisite level of skill and experience to the table to make this work efficiently. 

Coda: The line between outreach and communications is a fuzzy one. The terms are frequently used interchangeably (guilty) but the latter has a much deeper and longer history of best practices, theory, and scholarship, mostly outside LIS. I think many libraries slap the term “outreach” on job descriptions and titles without giving much thought to the practical skills and knowledge necessary to make that work. That might be a topic for another time.

(header photo: library_of_congress on flickr)