Information Cartographer: Social Media Librarians of the Future

Event Description: Whether you are in a one-person library or one with one hundred staff, social media applications are impacting library services just like the Internet has. Learn from the Rapid City Public Library, which has successfully "operationalized" its social media services, fitting the efforts into an already busy schedule and actually having fun in the process.

Presented by: Stephanie Bents, digital services librarian, and Greta Chapman, director of the Rapid City Public Libraries, recognized by USA Today as one of the top libraries in the U.S.

What are your goals for viewing this webinar?
Personal Goals
Team Goals
Activity 1
The presentation shows an array of social media applications:
Facebook, YouTube, LibraryThing, Twitter, Flickr, and Diigo
For any that are not familiar to you, visit the sites and learn more about them.
For which of these applications does your library already have an account?
Discussion question
How is your library currently making use of its social media applications? How can you merge and integrate the applications for more effective reach to your community?
Discussion question
What are the sacred cows in your library? What services or tasks could you trim to make room for new directions?
Activity 2
Get more of your library staff on board to participate in social media communications.
1. Look at some basic technology competencies:
§  RCPL Staff Technology Competencies Checklist
§  WebJunction Competency Index for the Library Field (see Core Technology section)
§  Denver Public Library Core Staff Technology Competencies
2. Inventory the skills you (or your staff) already have.
3. Plan some “hands-on” learning experiences to give all staff direct experience with social media. Remember to make use of existing expertise and peer learning.
Discussion question
Based on the Black Hills Knowledge Network example, what local information would you want to aggregate?
How would you go about implementing your own local knowledge network? Think about how you would display it and what social media you would feed to it (Twitter, wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc.)
Action Plan (include next steps, who, when, etc.)
NOTES