Instagram is a social media application that is most popular with teens. A large majority of my students and parents have accounts; therefore it has become a useful tool in the school library. I use it to inform students, develop “branding” of our library and programming, collect data on student and staff interests, engage students, model digital citizenship, and foster a love of reading and literacy building wide. In addition, it serves as an additional passive programming method and helps me connect with students, staff, parents, community members and alumni.
In posting to Instagram, I can inform followers of library programming, new books, texts and databases that connect to school projects and community events, such as public library programming, that they might be interested in. Last summer I posted that the local library needed volunteers for summer programming, and more students responded via Instagram than by listening to announcements at school.
By using the “stories” feature, I can post new books or displays and included a poll, inquiring about student preferences to a variety of things, including items that I would consider purchasing for our library. This is a feature I have recently begun using to collect timely data and make informed decisions in our programming.
We feature a weekly “bookface Friday” photo that I post every Friday, featuring a library book juxtaposed over a student’s face to look as though his or her face/body is an extension of the book. I can promote new books this way, or books that haven’t been circulated in a while that I am considering discarding. I also use the school Instagram account to model proper digital citizenship skills. For example, after a student willing participates in a photo for #bookfaceFriday or is in a picture I’ve taken during class. I verbally ask them to confirm it is ok to post the photo and let them help me choose which one to post. Occasionally we will get a “like” or even a comment from the author of the book we posted! Researching author Instagram accounts and tagging the author or publisher is then very worth the time it takes to create digital content. It’s very exciting for students and staff to see and allows us to engage with authors on social media.
Parents, alumni and community members, including school board members, follow our school Instagram account. It’s a great way to actively advocate for our programming and inform the public as to the wide variety of activities happening within our walls. Though I haven’t found the time to Tweet or use Facebook as a social media outlet, I do know that Instagram is one of the most popular with teens. It is for this reason, I choose to focus my social media content here. I highly recommend using this forum to connect with a wide audience, specifically high school students.
Check out @kendallgrowsreaders if you’d like to see how our school has used this resource!
A. Charland LIS 568 