It’s Libraries Week – a week-long celebration of libraries and the fantastic work that librarians and information professionals do. As part of this year’s Libraries Week, we want to celebrate some of the libraries doing a fantastic job championing their brands on social media.
Read on to discover our round-up of some of the great libraries that are crushing it on social media.
The team running the Cardiff University Library Twitter account have tapped into a great source of humour, and use a storytelling approach that is genuine and personable.
The New York Public Library's Instagram fame is due in part to its delightful reimagining of literary classics. The library has been telling tales in interactive and visually appealing ways on their Instagram Stories.
Five Insta Novels have been released:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by @magoz
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," illustrated by @buck_design
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", illustrated by @studioaka
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis , illustrated by @cesarpelizer
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, illustrated by @c8l.in
This Twitter account has a fabulously British sense of humor. The more idiosyncratic the tweets are, the better they seem to do. Students have latched on to the library's personality as a fussy character who really cares about them. It is a great example of clever storytelling and messaging with a real human side to it.
The account has tweeted about everything from missing staplers, the library's uncomfortable temperature settings and even flirting among library users.
The San Francisco Public Library does a great job of making sure they are a supportive part of their local community by acting as a safe space during autumn wildfires. Their Twitter account keeps people up to date on which libraries are safe to visit and when.
The British Library's Instagram account is a mix of interesting literary content, but one of its most unique features is the addition of quotes and interviews with curators and librarians. These fascinating Instagram Stories cover a wealth of aspects of library roles and activities, including archiving, bookbinding, student support and more. It is a fab way to get real insight into the day-to-day lives of librarians and behind-the-scenes snippets of what it takes to run such an impactful library service.
The team behind the University of York Libraries Instagram account have put a lot of effort into levelling it up, something they started focusing on during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of their top tips for building a social following have included using Stories for news announcements, going to a text-free approach on their Grid, and pairing catchy phrases and messaging with visually stunning imagery of the library.
There are some incredible libraries out there generating creative, humorous content on social media. Who are your favorite libraries to follow on social? Let us know in the comments.
Want to learn more about how you can create a social media strategy that works? Check out our video on learning how to develop an effective social media strategy.