The pandemic wiped out decades of
progress in children’s reading skills. So what can a librarian who hopes to
engage children and teenagers with books and reading do?
اضافة اعلان
“Meet them where they are,” said Sara Day,
a teen services librarian at the Woodland Public Library in Woodland,
California. And “where they are”, she said, is on TikTok.
A growing number of librarians are joining
her there. Last month, Day and her colleague, Sara Vickers, a children’s
librarian, led dozens of their colleagues in a short choreography set to Taylor
Swift’s “Anti-Hero” as part of a session called “TikTok O’ Clock!” at the Young
Adult Library Services Association’s 2022 symposium in Baltimore.
“Looking cool was a big challenge at the
beginning,” Vickers, 34, told the crowd. That was until her colleagues had a
change in mindset. “Lean into the cringe,” Day, 29, advised. Teens are
overwhelmed, she said. “Put a smile on their face.”
Asked if their libraries were on
TikTok,
about half of the room raised their hands. The message to teens, Day said, is:
“Come in, there’s a space for you.”
On TikTok, librarians don costumes, dance
to viral songs, show off new books, and bond with their co-workers. And as they
do so, they draw in visitors and drum up interest in reading: Margo Moore, 28,
a teen services librarian who traveled to the symposium from Lawrence, Kansas,
said that interest in books featured in popular TikTok videos often spikes in
the days and weeks that follow.
Making the effort to show up on TikTok tells young people that “we’re here, we hear you, we feel you”.
Library TikTok is related to, but distinct
from, BookTok, a corner of the platform where readers post about their favorite
books and that has become a force in book sales. On library TikTok, there is
chatter about books, but librarians also post about resources and events, showcasing
libraries as welcoming places for diverse communities. There is no official
tally of library and
librarian TikTok accounts, but Katie Elson Anderson, a
reference librarian at Rutgers University-Camden, has compiled a list of 85
accounts — which she says is likely an undercount.
Making the effort to show up on TikTok
tells young people that “we’re here, we hear you, we feel you,” said Celia
Greer, 30, a teen coordinator at the Kankakee Public Library in Kankakee,
Illinois. The library posted a video that went
viral on TikTok this year,
earning over 1 million views — and scoring a comment from Kevin Bacon. The
library then posted a second video celebrating Bacon’s comment, which got more
than 30,000 views. Now, the account is a local phenomenon, she said.
“People know who we are out in public
because of the TikToks,” Greer said.
Questioning bans, dispelling stereotypesLibrarians said that the TikTok videos are
also a blast for the staff, who are often dealing with burnout and stress after
serving their communities throughout the pandemic. As conflicts over book bans
escalate across the country, some librarians have also come under attack.
“We just want people to engage with local
libraries,” said Emily Jackson, 40, social media manager for Dallas Public
Library. “In the environment we’re in, it’s super important.”
In August, the Dallas Public Library’s
account posted a TikTok about titles that had been banned or challenged. In the
video, Jackson holds up a series of books as “World’s Smallest Violin” by AJR —
a song that was
popular on TikTok — plays. The post reached nearly 28,000
people.
“It is our job to select, acquire, describe, make accessible, and circulate preserved knowledge… that’s the whole project. So as technology changes the ways things are circulated, we change with it.”
Several librarians also said that the
platform can be helpful in dispelling stereotypes and giving people a realistic
view of what libraries and librarians are like in 2022.
“We have this misconception that libraries
are antiquated and not on top of tech trends,” said Emily Drabinski,
president-elect of the American Library Association. But historically, she
said, librarians are often on the forefront of engaging with new technologies.
“It is our job to select, acquire,
describe, make accessible, and circulate preserved knowledge,” Drabinski added.
“That’s the whole project. So as technology changes the ways things are
circulated, we change with it.”
Librarians can also use
TikTok to spread
trustworthy information on a platform rife with manipulated content. “It is a
space that requires critical information literacy,” said Jessie Loyer, an
academic librarian in Calgary, Alberta, who posts about topics including digital
sovereignty and repatriation on TikTok under the handle @IndigenousLibrarian.
“Librarians have always been involved in
helping people figure out what is real, what is relevant,” Loyer added. So
TikTok, she said, is “a necessary space to be in, and a useful tool.”
A window to the ‘in-person’ worldNot everyone is on board with the idea of
librarians posting on TikTok. Some library directors and boards find some
TikTok accounts unprofessional, Vickers said. And some librarians are
ambivalent about encouraging young people to use the platform. Elizabeth
Miller, 22, a youth services librarian at the Rehoboth Beach Public Library in
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, said that while TikTok has potential for helping
people make friends and explore hobbies, the app is not always a healthy
environment for adolescents.
“Librarians have always been involved in helping people figure out what is real, what is relevant,” Loyer added. So TikTok, she said, is “a necessary space to be in, and a useful tool.”
But others, including librarians at
Kankakee Public Library, find that TikTok lets them engage with the community
in person, too. The library often collaborates with local figures, including
the mayor. “He’s always excited to do it,” said Greer, who helps make the
videos. The library has plans to make TikToks with cheerleaders and the drama
club at the local high school next year.
“We may not make them readers this year or
next year,” said her colleague Mary Bass, 30, the youth services assistant
supervisor and lead at the Kankakee library. “But they’ll know that we’re here
as they grow up.”
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