Libraries as Content Creators

Offer new tools to engage with and serve your customers

By David Lee King and Michael Porter | May 28, 2013

Content creation may seem like a novel function for libraries, but it’s nothing new. If you think back to the traditional library of yesteryear (or even traditional services in today’s library), you will notice plenty of examples of content being created.

For instance, has your library ever done any of the following?

Produced a pathfinder or a tip-sheet handout;
Written a book review;
Created a newsletter or blog specifically for patrons;
Authored original stories for storytime; or
Developed and led programs and classes

All these activities are content creation. In fact, libraries have always tried to make it easy for our customers to interact with and understand our libraries and materials. Now we’re just using newer tools such as social media sites, video equipment, and microphones to make it that much easier to share our content and acknowledge it as such.

Here are other ways libraries create content for customers:

Videos

These days, making a quality video to post online is as easy as pressing the upload button on YouTube. Okay, maybe not quite that easy—there is, after all, a bit of lighting, script-writing, and video editing involved.

But if you visit YouTube and browse around, you will find a number of libraries that have their own channels. Edmonton (Alberta) Public Library’s YouTube channel provides an introduction to the library, introductions to specific services, how-to videos, videos for children, and promos for the library’s summer reading program. Watch its short video (1:15) titled “Storytime Station—Zoom Zoom.”

Podcasts

Many libraries also podcast, some by capturing the audio of programs by library hosts and sending them out via iTunes as a podcast. Other libraries create weekly or monthly podcast shows. For example, Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library (where David works) does regular book-related podcasts, where special guests from the library and community discuss library resources and collections that will help customers learn about new bestsellers and emerging genres. It’s a great way to discover what other people are reading and recommending.

Seattle (Wash.) Public Library has an audio podcast in which listeners can find author readings by Cory Doctorow, Aimee Phan, and J. A. Jance, among others.

Blog posts

A simple “what’s new” post is easy to write and can be handy for customers. What was once a typical chat with a patron—informative but lost to the wider community as soon as the words were uttered—is transformed by the blog platform into content the entire community can access. Here’s one example: The What’s New blog at Portland (Oreg.) State University’s Branford P. Millar Library focuses on recent library news and highlights grants received and new materials acquired.

Staff members at Lester Public Library in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, write the Blogging LPL blog, which also focuses on library news and is updated several times per week.

Your expertise

You may not think of yourself as content, but you are a walking treasure trove of knowledge—about your library, about a variety of topics, even about how to navigate the web. Those conversations you have with customers? That’s library-created original content right there, and ultimately, the most valuable content a library has is you.

DAVID LEE KING is digital services director for Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library. MICHAEL PORTER is currently leading the effort of the e-content-centric nonprofit Library Renewal and has worked for more than 20 years as a librarian, presenter, and consultant for libraries.

Nonfiction Programming

Spark kids’ imaginations with the wonders of amazing facts

Reading the Carnegie Longlist

This list provides an ideal snapshot of a year in publishing

Latest Library Links

9h

Max Eddy writes: “It’s a nightmare scenario: You’ve protected all of your online accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA), but then your phone is broken, lost, or stolen, and you’re locked out of everything. Past You’s effort to protect Future You has made Present You’s life a living hell. 2FA is supposed to keep attackers and scammers out of your online accounts, but what if something happens to your second factor? With a little planning, you can reduce that risk and still keep your accounts safe.”

New York Times Wirecutter, Apr. 12
13h

Nik Altenberg writes: “About 100 librarians and their supporters rallied outside San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library on April 9 to demand the city hire security guards for every branch. Workers decried a lack of security at most of the city’s branches and said they are often forced to de-escalate volatile situations and step into the role of providing security themselves. The rally is the latest in a series of union actions [from 10 unions representing more than 25,000 city workers across city departments] seeking to draw attention to what they say is a pervasive understaffing crisis.”

KQED-TV (San Francisco), Apr. 9
1d

“Two years after Brooklyn Public Libraries’ (BPL) launch of Books Unbanned, an initiative to protect the freedom to read for young people, In Their Own Words: Youth Voices on Books Unbanned gives new insight into the impact of censorship on teen and young adults across the US and how restrictions and other barriers to access build upon and reinforce each other. The new report, published April 11 by BPL and Seattle Public Library, analyzes 855 stories shared by young people who signed up for a free Books Unbanned ecard from April 2022 through December 2023.”

Seattle Public Library, Apr. 11
2d

Samantha Guss, Sojourna Cunningham, and Jennifer Stout write: “Recruitment and retention are both critical to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in academic libraries, and failing to improve retention has and will continue to derail these initiatives. Research that addresses retention tends to focus on proposed strategies, such as stay interviews (structured interviews aimed at strengthening employee and employer relationships) and mentorship programs. But there is no agreed-upon definition of retention that would allow us to assess these strategies. We should recognize that involuntary staying can be just as negative an outcome for the individual and the organization as leaving, setting the stage for legacy toxicity.”

In The Library With The Lead Pipe, Apr. 10
2d

Jackie Edwards writes: “As spring rolls around, seasonal allergies can flare up among library workers, resulting in symptoms like sneezing; runny or stuffy nose; itchy eyes, ears, and nose; coughing; and asthma. Not only are these symptoms detrimental to well-being and productivity, but they can also mean you’re less able to provide excellent customer service to library users. Fortunately, by purifying the air, preventing mold, and keeping your work area clean, you can improve indoor air quality and combat allergies in your library.”

Library Worklife, Apr.
3d

In Episode 94, Call Number celebrates Preservation Week, to be held this year April 28–May 4. The week’s events aim to raise awareness of the role libraries and cultural institutions play in protecting historic and culturally significant collections. Segments include Traci Sorell, honorary chair of this year’s Preservation Week, discussing the role of preservation through storytelling; Kathleen Monahan, special collections public services supervisor at Boston Public Library, addressing the importance of security in preservation; and Rosie Grayburn and Melissa Tedone, cofounders of the Poison Book Project, talking about their research on potentially toxic bookbinding materials from the 19th century.

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 15
3d

Leigh Kunkel writes: “The legalization of marijuana in many states and municipalities in recent years has created a newly legal industry and budding entrepreneurs who can benefit from the expertise of business librarians. As soon as Washington state introduced an initiative to legalize recreational cannabis use in 2012, Seattle Public Library librarian Jay Lyman started fielding questions from potential entrepreneurs. Since then, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational cannabis use, and 14 more have legalized medical use of cannabis. This cultural shift brings a new opportunity for libraries to step in with support services.”

American Libraries Trend, Mar./Apr.