The Columbus Metropolitan Library is the fourth-most followed public library in the country, due in part to a dynamic, educational, and at times, “unhinged” social media strategy that promotes library services and collections, while not taking the medium too seriously.
Digital Storyteller Specialist Grayson Kelly will share about the overall social media strategy CML employs, including its roughly 20 percent allocation to education and history content. This includes the library's incredibly popular “Then and Now” weekly series, which annually includes some of the library’s top-performing posts. Local History & Genealogy Librarian Grace Freeman will talk about the process to select sites, highlight collection materials and the community, and create content through this historic lens.
Kelly and Freeman will share how they have successfully highlighted library special collections, archives, and digital assets across social media platforms while engaging their community. They will also discuss how their unique areas of expertise allow them to make authentic historic content digestible to followers and to encourage future engagement with collections.
Outreach to those not in our libraries can be hard, but these strategies help bridge the (digital) divide.
