In this day and age, technology plays a huge role in many
people’s everyday lives. Social media sites that were once being using
primarily by individuals are now becoming an excellent tool for businesses and
organizations, alike. Pinterest is an excellent social media tool for
individual users, organizations, businesses, AND libraries. Not only is it an
excellent resource for finding and “pinning” ideas but it is an excellent
source for sharing your ideas and, also, marketing. “People are providing
information for and acquiring information from each other thus fundamentally
shifting the web from an information access tool to a knowledge sharing tool”
(Heinrichs, 2012). As easily as friends can share their favorite new home
project ideas, teachers can also share their lesson plans, a photography
business can highlight their best work and market themselves, and libraries can
share their collections and show their community, even the world, what is
happening inside their doors.
Sharing Ideas: Using Pinterest in Libraries
How can your library use Pinterest? What is the benefit? In
the recent article, 20 Great Ways
Libraries are Using Pinterest, the authors discuss many ways that libraries
are already using this tool to relay the message to others about their library
and what it has to offer. The article lists many great ideas including:
creating reading lists, showcasing historic archives, promoting library
activities, offering access to digital collections, and research to name a few
(Rooney & Schumann, 2012). Not only can a library use Pinterest to upload
and share what is happening at their establishment, but, librarians can also
use it to collaborate with other libraries and learn about what they are
working on, as well. If you don’t already have a Pinterest page of your own, I
suggest you make one for yourself. More than likely, it will suck you in and
you will begin spending much of your free time enthralled with the spectacular
ideas that are out there that you never even knew existed. If it can spark such
a great motivation and interest on an individual level, imagine where it can
take your library.
Heinrichs, J. (2012, January 27) Social Media Marketing [Web
log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.slis.wayne.edu/blog/bid/95977/Default.aspx?&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
Rooney, J., & Schumann, A. (2012) 20 Great Ways
Libraries Are Using Pinterest. Retrieved from http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/03/12/20-great-ways-libraries-are-using-pinterest/
This was such a great, informative blog post! I love Pinterest and how versatile it is for all different jobs. My boyfriend's sister is a production artist for a marketing company and she has a "Design" board and will pin any web layouts she likes or design tips. Also, a lot of my friends are teachers, and they have boards upon boards for holiday crafts, free workbook print outs, etc. It is really interesting just how much Pinterest can come in use and be a quick tool for its users!
I keep hearing about Pinterest, but have never checked it out myself. I find that I waste too much time on sites like that, so I've avoided it. Perhaps when I can afford to spend the time, I will! I never thought about it being used as a helpful tool for libraries. Thank you for broadening my horizons!
I've never seen pinterest before, but I took a look just now, I can see the advantage of using it in a school or public library to inform the public of what is going on in the library. What a great marketing tool.
Pinterest connects people through ideas and interests. It is much, much more appealing to me than Facebook, which seems to thrive on gossip and more superficial concerns. It is a powerful tool (although addictive) to harness and gather information online. I am exploring ways to use it in my school library and found the article mentioned very useful.
I am actually researching Pinterest in libraries for a project in LIS 6080 and I came to some similar conclusions about what a great tool it is for use in libraries! One thing I discovered while using Pinterest is that you can enable other people to pin things on your boards. I immediately thought of what a great tool this could be for libraries. Patrons can get on a library's Pinterest and post images of their own favorite books or even personal photos from programs. Pinterest can be a great marketing tool for libraries, but it can also be a way to instigate interaction between the patrons as they share their favorite books.
Check out the New York Public Library's amazing Pinterest here: https://pinterest.com/nypl/
I have just started my Pinterest journey and have seen how I can incorporate information for the parents and children I serve at my public library branch. During my Toddler Time programs, I attempt to weave important tips to parents on how to incorporate the ALA's newest ECRR (Each Child Ready to Read) initiative through the 5 Practices in Early Literacy. This social media platform would be the ideal way to reach out to those parents who regularly attend and those who may still seek out information, but are unable to attend the programs with their children. While there's not one single avenue that reaches 100% of the people, this is certainly a great communication tool to add to what I'm already doing in the library.
Heather Wood-Gramza
Anne- I had no idea that you could allow people to pin to your boards! That is great and could really create some interesting collaboration between the library patrons and staff! Thank you for the information!
Heather- I currently teach preschool and use Pinterest often to help plan my lessons, there are some super fun activites on there! I think many people and businesses could find Pinterest useful if they just checked it out!
I think Pinterest is fascinating and it has a lot of potential, but I have some problems with their terms of use, which this blog post explores in some depth. The problem is that Pinterest discourages people from promoting their own work, so they pin other peoples’ work instead… but of course most of us only have copyright to our own work, not to anyone else’s. So the site seems almost built to encourage copyright infringement, but the terms of use are structured to ensure that users -- and not Pinterest -- bear the legal brunt of any violations. It’s a bit of a legal minefield at the moment, and I hope that Pinterest really takes a good look at this business model. They have made some changes recently, so there’s cause for hope, but this post suggests that there’s still quite a long way to go (particularly re: the indemnity provision). Which doesn’t mean libraries can’t use it, but they really need to go about it very carefully, I think.
From Sara Magnuson:
I know Pinterest has great ideas, but I'm kind of with Ty on this one. I may find a few great ideas, after pouring through hours worth of things that have nothing to do with what I really need. My time seems to just disappear. Maybe when I have learned to be a better taskmaster, I will allow myself more time on Pinterest. But for now (in the interest of remaining employed and enrolled) I will simply google images of what I need for display ideas, craft programs, etc.