Progams and publicity local studies
Programs, events and exhibitions are an effective way to raise awareness and increase the understanding of a local studies; as well as engaging people and encouraging the use of a collection. Programs can be in the library, online or undertaken as partnerships within council or with other local groups or organisations.
Programs
A library program, as defined by Living Learning Libraries, is an ongoing series or sequence of activities devised and provided by the library and related to a particular library service, library collection or population demographic. A library event is viewed as a 'one off 'activity related to a library program. Libraries may enter into a partnership with another organisation such as National Trust Heritage Festival, History Week or Family History Week and host related exhibitions, programs and events. Public programs are an interpretative tool and are manifested in exhibitions, tours, talks, workshops, demonstrations which may be hosted in a range of venues including the library. The intent is to ensure ongoing engagement with the community. It is always a good idea to assess if a program or event is successful achieving what was expected by undertaking a survey measuring attendances and comments.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions are as unique as the Local Studies Collection they reflect and can offer new perspectives and interpretations of a topic. Varying in presentation formats they may be temporary permanent, travelling, online or at another venue.
- are the public face of the Local Studies Collection.
- enabling communication with the public;encouraging community engagement they can commemorate events, issues or people.
- are an excellent way to promote, share and facilitate access to collections.
- provide opportunities to gather more information and resources.
- attract audiences who normally don't visit a library.
An exhibition can be a few objects related to a current event or extend to larger exhibitions. Exhibitions can advocate innovative uses of social media, re-use of materials, craftivism and a range of design techniques.
A considered exhibition policy provides guidelines ensuring displays are ethical, accountable and sustainable. The Australian National Library's exhibitions policy is very helpful http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions-policy.
Museums and Galleries of NSW have a valuable online resource which includes facts sheets on curating and tips on installation. https://mgnsw.org.au/sector/resources/online-resources/exhibition/
The Australian Museum also provides a good introduction to exhibition development and guidelines on writing labels and evaluating exhibitions at http://australianmuseum.net.au/writing-text-and-labels.
Museums Australia Victoria have always provided good exhibitions practice guidelines.
The Australian Museums and Galleries Association https://www.amaga.org.au/my-collection under the heading Exhibitions provide advice on audience research, promoting exhibitions, devising public programs and the all important engaging younger audiences.
Publicity and Marketing
The marketing and associated publicity for Local Studies programs, events and activities would be directed by the guidelines established by each local council.Local Studies is a very unique aspect of a library's service and staff needs to ensure the associated media department understands the intricacies of the service and are comfortable with the language of Local Studies collections and services.It may be worth considering creating an identity for the service with its own unique logo which can be used on all promotional material.
Remember there are more places to advertise than the local papers and radio. Engage with the local historical society and special interest groups inviting their contribution and participation. A local exhibition often has appeal and relevance beyond its boundaries.
A publication by Sharron Dickman The Marketing Mix: Promoting Museums, Galleries & Exhibitions, is a good introduction to possible promotional options.
Social media
New York Public Library Instagram account, with a plan and 7 – 10 posts a week, keeps their social media structured and planned sustainable. They have a strategy of having different posts on different days. This would also work for Flickr, twitter, Instagram. They still have the capacity to be responsive to events.
You could consider the use of hashtags unique to your area or to connect with other organisations. You may be able to use Council social media streams. Getting local studies into the streams is an important way of sharing and promoting the collections and services.
Think about each form of social media as each is different. Who do you want to connect to? This will determine which social media channels you decide to use.
You need to know local policies including your organisations' code of conduct. You also need to know how your community is using social media. Try doing a search on a town/suburb/area names in different social media. Think about how to connect and provide access to these.
Social media is an excellent way for your community to discover local studies collections and services. This information can be through library or council social media streams. It can feature collection items, facts, and event. It may be connected with a local hashtag, or with a more general one like #collectionfishing on Instagram or Twitter.
Social media involves setting priorities and letting people know about the collection,services and specialist staff who are in local studies. It can be really simple – post a photograph with a sentence, or link to the catalogue. Or post a photograph with a question and wait for the responses.
Social media is a key for connecting, and having local interaction with the community and connecting with people not local about local events and services.
Christchurch City Library on Flickr combines different elements in their Flickr stream recording library events as well as events in the community. Blue Mountains Library has a local studies Flickr account.
Using Instagram
Instagram is a photography based social media tool. It is a great marketing tool for sharing items from the collection. There are numerous libraries and archives on Instagram. Some good examples are:
@smithsoniantranscriptioncenter
There are numerous hashtags which can be used to help you curate the images you are going to display. For example #marblemonday where libraries share the marbled paper from the front of books #bookface where libraries share images of books as faces.
Using Facebook
Facebook is the most widely used social media platform and connects with numerous age groups. It is a great place to share links and advertise events.People can 'share' on their own pages which means it is a great way to spread the word about things happening in the library.You can automatically copy your Instagram posts so they appear on Facebook but it’s better not to do this all the time as they are not the same audience and people who follow you on both will find it boring and annoying.
There are lots of Facebook pages relating to local history and 'The Past'. These groups will love to see photos from your collection and will forward them and add them to their pages. Make sure your rights information is accurate, including who the photographer is, title of image and the source of the image, is clear.
Hashtags
Search for hastags in your area - suburb, town or event names are a good place to start. You need to create your name for your library as a hashtag or use your social media handle such as @Newcastlelocalhistory
then create the hashtags, such as #newcastlelocalhistory #newcastlecouncilarchives #newcastlestories
Consider using existing local hashtags as a way of connecting. This is important as then all staff can make sure they are using the same hashtag so all posts show up together. You can then add these hashtags to posters and flyers so if the general public post a picture at an event it can also show up with the other images.
Social Media resources and policies
American Libraries: how libraries are using social media, engaging people,cultivating new readers and learners in the community. Advocacy
Use of social media by the library: current practices and future opportunities, a white paper from Taylor & Francis.Talks about reasons for using Social media, the advantages and challenges, management effectiveness
Public Library Association: Public Libraries Online, Why social media isn’t working for your library
Public Libraries News: Public libraries and social media