Thursday 26 February 2015 10:00 - 1:00 at Waverley Library

Present: Jody Rodas (Waverley), Monique Akauola (Sutherland), Kelly Wilson (Sutherland), Douglass Pine (Ku-Ring-Gai), Andrea Curr (Drug Info), Cathy Hammer (LIAC), Eric Connerton (Randwick), Barbara Todes (Randwick), Maya Mausli (Randwick), Paula Pfoeffer (Canterbury), Kim O’Grady (Ryde), Mylee Joseph (State Library)

Apologies: Helen Kassidis (Burwood), Robyn Owens (Bankstown), Marie Allue (Manly), Ruth Kotevich (Marrickville), Margaret Redrup-May (Blacktown)

1. Welcome and Apologies

2. Minutes from last meeting - Minutes were distributed via FB page and email list

3. Business arising from previous minutes

• The Facebook domain name of PublicLibrariesNSW agreed upon at the last meeting was parked by Eric Connerton. However since the merger of the two library associations, we have been approached by NSWPLA to develop a FBpage for an April Launch.
• The NSWPLA funding campaign activity has decreased and this role has somewhat been taken over by ALIA’s FAIR campaign. The NSWPLA page is therefore available for us to revamp.

4. Presentation State Library of NSW “Work shopping Facebook” Thank you to Mylee who gave a very informative presentation.

• Points to note:
• Monitor social media usage stats so we can stay ahead of trends in what applications people are actually using. 69% of Australians are social media users with Seniors being a growing audience.
• There is a need to strike a balance between original and shared content. NSWPLA need to share more about our own achievements eg. Grant winners, Marketing award winners
• Remember key quotes that are evocative get shared.
• Facebook has an ‘organic reach’ – the more a person interacts with a page the more it stays in news feeds. Therefore to get reach without paying you need to be getting likes, comments and shares from your followers.
• Mylee’s notes are to be forwarded to the rest of the group.

5. Working group Business – Setting up our Facebook page.

• There was much discussion around whether or not to revamp the funding campaign page or start from scratch. The existing page has over 500 likes that we would be able to capitalise on. This audience would most likely be people already in the industry but our aim would be to have engaging posts and broaden the audience.
• To achieve this the site needs to be totally revamped including the cover images.
• Barbara, Maya and Eric from Waverley presented their proposal for the site including a new vision. New page will be created and shown to NSWPLA for endorsement. A page co-ordinator position will be rotated each month. This person will: schedule posts, monitor and respond to comments/complaints. Posts can be original content or items reposted from other libraries. NYPL, ALIA and the SLNSW all have posts that can be repurposed. The aim is to have 5 posts per week. Posts should not be about coming events as this will make it harder to schedule, but showcase what we do. Target audience includes, industry professionals, libraries, current users, politicians, Seniors, non library users( with a romantic view of libraries)
• Ideas for cover images to be collated
• NSWPLA Facebook proposal (by Randwick) to be distributed to rest of the group
• The role of content co-ordinator will be rotated between the libraries. A roster will be developed for this purpose. In order to have content ready for launch it was decided that each library write 2 posts. Examples of appropriate posts are required.
• Maya Mausli to work on cover image design and share with others.
• Barbara Todes to organise distribution and co-ordinate with Library Managers
• All libraries present at the meeting agreed to have 2 posts ready by 20 March
• Paula Pfoeffer will set up Dropbox account so that posts with text and images can be uploaded by contributing libraries

6. Information exchange and other Business

• Ryde – have purchased 20 “library” flags to go on poles along Lane Cove Rd. Expansion of Volunteer program with 46 applicants responding to advertising.
• Canterbury – Free little library in phone box coming soon. New Library at Riverwood to be built with new branding. Campsie being renovated.
• Randwick – recent approval for own FB page. (App with new LMS required it). Enews subscriptions grown due to merger with membership email address with the option to unsubscribe. UNSW O week stall. Summer beach Library taken down this week – great success.
• Waverley – pop up library over January at Bondi Beach. New kids story time sessions 2-3’s Rockin Rhyme time. New program Dad’s Read launching this weekend with Ambassadors, Anthony Minichello, and Bondi lifeguards Deano and Harries.
• LIAC – Hot topics are now online. They will be using tumblr and FB to promote
• Di@yll – Youth week promo pack being sent out. Know your standards pack also being distributed to all libraries.
• Ku-ring-gai – Held morning tea for Library Lovers Day. Talks for Seniors week – Gambling/Mental Health.
• Sutherland – have obtained grant to run tech savvy seniors in Cantonese and Arabic. Makerspace program. Redesign of all brochures using photos instead of stock images. Library consultation with 600 survey responses.

8. Next Meetings

• Next meeting to be held at Ryde on 28/5/2015
• Meeting host will send out invitations 3 weeks prior to meeting and also collate agenda items (Invitations due 7/5/2015)
• Host of next meeting will take minutes and distribute
• Meeting on the 27/8/2015 will be held at the State Library in the Macquarie Room from 10am-1pm.