Comments on: Libs With(out) A Face

By: Cecily Walker

Cecily Walker — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:06:35 +0000

We're real, live librarians at VPL too, it's just that we're a team of librarians, rather than just one person on the account. I like how Jennifer mentioned above that they have one generic account for the library in addition to individual 'official' accounts as well.

But point taken.

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:29:23 +0000

This actually reminds me of an idea I had while I was thinking about much the same issues with regard to our Twitter account. Let's grab a coffee in the next week or two and talk about it.

By: michael steeleworthy

michael steeleworthy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:01:04 +0000

I think the branding we see between CML and VPL in your post demonstrates why Twitter works best when a real, live person is associated with the account. From a user's perspective (i'm trying to not wear my library-hat here), I like the idea of knowing that I can connect with a real, live Librarian at the CML – I know from the start that it's an actively used Twitter account and not something used “because everyone thinks we should be using it.”

Anyway.

By: michael steeleworthy

michael steeleworthy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:01:04 +0000

Anyway.

By: Cecily Walker

Cecily Walker — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:15:44 +0000

This is very interesting indeed, Jennifer, and shows that you're working with a forward-thinking group. I admire that you looked outside of libraries for inspiration/best practices; it shows that your organization is interested in finding the best service model, which incidentally happens to be suitable for libraries.

By: Jennifer Hrusch

Jennifer Hrusch — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:10:55 +0000

Interesting question. Thanks for asking! The overall strategy at Columbus Metropolitan Library has always been to incorporate our people into everything we do. Our people appear in printed materials, on our Web site, etc. As we say on our Career page, “Without our people we're just four walls and a lot of books.” http://www.columbuslibrary.org/ebranch/index.cf…

We felt that it was important to continue this strategy when we established our Twitter accounts. We have found that it works well to have a corporate account as well as a “face” of Columbus Metropolitan Library. Our ultimate goal is to have the corporate account and the “face” accounts tweeting about different topics in order to provide customers with a broader experience with the Library. We have seen this strategy work well for @BobEvansFarms and @ExpCols. It is still a work in progress. We are continuing to have discussions about mobilizing the right amount of people with their own unique voice to reach that broad audience, while at the same time keeping the message consistent. I hope that helps answer your question. Feel free to keep an eye on what we are doing and ask questions anytime. We don't have all the answers, but we are excited about all the possibilities to come.

By: Cecily Walker

Cecily Walker — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:35:52 +0000

I'm interested in finding out why your organization decided to use two separate accounts.

By: Jennifer Hrusch

Jennifer Hrusch — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:10:57 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Cecily. We also have a Twitter account for the library at http://twitter.com/columbuslibrary. These two accounts together keep our customers informed and connected to the library. -Jennifer