Minimizing Social Media to Maximize Library Values

***BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR PLEASE REVIEW IMPORTANT REGISTRATION INFORMATION BELOW***

While social media is an unavoidable reality of today's digital landscape, it has inherent conflicts with some of the core values of librarianship—including intellectual freedom and privacy. Indeed, many of the most important aspects of librarianship and public service are at odds with the defining characteristics of social media.

Is it worth reconsidering how we use this tool and examining its real and practical value for libraries, rather than the value attributed to it by Big Tech? Do we put our profession in an ethically compromised place by encouraging patrons to use social media platforms when we can communicate in other ways?

In this webinar, learn how a medium-sized public library in Montana minimized its social media use while still engaging with its community.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Recognize that social media and libraries have inherent conflicts in their values, including intellectual freedom and privacy, that are worth thinking deeply about;
• Understand that minimizing social media use by your library can save time, reduce the tension that comes with constantly managing a social media page, and redirect your marketing efforts to ways that might feel more authentic for your library and community; and
• Feel empowered to think outside the box and hopefully reconnect with some of the most important values of librarianship and better communicate them to other librarians as well as the public.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is intended for public library staff involved in marketing and/or social media management, as well as library directors.

Panelists

Mark Wetherington (he/him) is the director of the Bitterroot Public Library in Hamilton, Montana, and an avid backpacker and outdoor enthusiast. He is a co-author of Backpacking Washington published by Wilderness Press and is a regular contributor to Trails Magazine. Mark began working in libraries in 2006 and received his MLIS from the University of Kentucky in 2012.

 

Important Registration Information

Log into or create your ALA eLearning account

An ALA eLearning account is required to register. Don’t have an account? Create one for free by going to the “Log in” menu located at the top right corner of your screen. No membership is required to create the account. If you encounter any issues registering for this webinar, then please email ce@ala.org for assistance.

Redeem your signup code to complete your registration

Once you’ve registered for this webinar, a signup code will be added to your ALA eLearning account and emailed to you. Find the signup code on your signup code page, then redeem it on your account’s dashboard to complete your enrollment in this live webinar.

• Need to purchase registration on behalf of a colleague?
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Review the ALA eLearning FAQ if you need more information.

Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer (VoIP) or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.

Contact

This webinar is presented by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Questions about this webinar? Please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752).