MLA Poster Session Handout

MLA Poster Session Handout

Internet Readers Advisory: Outreaching RA

Goals Whereas many patrons are not aware of library services Whereas outreach is an essential part of library services Whereas many of our patrons rely heavily on the internet for their entertainment and their information Whereas Readers Advisory is an essential and under-utilized library service We commit to out-reaching to patrons through new and innovative methods to bring Readers Advisory to them We commit to expanding knowledge of library services through interaction with online library patrons as well as in person patrons.

Kathryn Bergeron Systems Librarian Baldwin Public Library

Step 1: Find Your Patrons Online Where are your other local libraries online? Where are other organizations in your community? What sites are your patrons using when you walk past their computers? Have you searched for your library lately? In Google? On Twitter? What are people saying about you? Popular Places to Find Patrons: - Facebook - Twitter - Myspace - Foursquare - Slideshare - Blog - Meebo

- LinkedIn - Ning - Flickr - YouTube - Second Life - Good Reads Step 2: Once you know where they are: Go To Them! Step 3: Engage Them Social Networking is not just for announcing events. ENGAGE PATRONS! - Talk to your patrons - Respond to their posts - Search for them on places like twitter, and respond to them - Encourage them to share your posts or share your page with their friends - Post fun articles or videos related to libraries or books - Post about other library or consortium events, and tag them in your posts let them share and respond (MeL.org is great about this!) Step 4: Give them what they want - Look at what theyre talking about, and talk about it with them - Ex. NYPLs Mad Men booklist - Ex. New books & DVD lists - Ex. Latest award winners and hot books - Find patrons who post about specific books, movies, new technologies, etc and engage them. - Ex. You post about your iPad, we send you the title of a new book about essential iPad apps - Ex. You post that you loved The Help and we send you a link to Little Bee by Chris Cleave. - Ex. You respond to our new movies post and we send you a message offering to put next weeks new movies on hold. - If you still dont know what they like, ASK THEM! Thats the beauty of social networking! - Best Books Friday: Ask people to post their favorite books of the week Step 5: Reach out with other services Questions? Kathryn Bergeron, Systems Librarian, Baldwin Public Library Kathryn.bergeron@baldwinlib.org