Flash Mobs, Social Media, and the Library

Last week someone sent me a link to the University of Maryland’s parody of Psy’s Gangnam Style video.  The library has a Facebook page that gave instructions for practicing the dance and where/when the flash mob would take place.  A majority of the video is shot in the library with the flash mob meeting on the quad.   I have seen other parodies of this song/dance but none done in a library.

How does this relate to youth services librarianship?

Well, my students have been talking about and doing this dance for about a month now.  I even saw a local high school soccer team doing the dance on the evening news when they were featured.  And many of them use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.  So I started thinking about how social media could be used in youth services librarianship.  I took to the ORR to search out some articles for ideas.

“Online Marketing Strategies for Reaching Today's Teens” by Laura Horn discusses using Facebook, blogs, web pages, and widgets to market library services, programs, and event to teens.  It also discusses having a TAB Facebook group to share ideas and planning events.  The article lists some sites as well for ideas and ways to get started.

“Libraries Get Social--Social Media, That Is!” By Victor Rivero offers resources for school libraries using social media for students and librarians.

“Very Pinteresting!” by Kate Messner gives great ideas about using Pinterest in schools and public libraries.  She even lists sites to help those getting started with Pinterest and links to libraries/librarians using Pinterest already.  There are also a number of authors’ Pinterest sites given.

I think social media can be a very effective way to reach and serve youths from a library perspective.  Multiple articles mentioned a few things to keep in mind such as updating and keeping up.  Teens will lose interest in sites that are not updated on a regular basis.  As librarians, we will also need to keep up with what is new in the lives of those we are trying to reach.  


Horn, L. (2011). Online Marketing Strategies for Reaching Today's Teens. Young Adult Library Services, 9(2), 24-27.

Messner, K. (2012). Very Pinteresting!. School Library Journal, 58(7), 24-27.

Rivero, V. (2010). Libraries Get Social--Social Media, That Is!. Multimedia & Internet@Schools, 17(6), 8-12.

Cyberbullying

I had been reading Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online by Anastasia Goodstein when I was sent an e-mail about a seminar that was going to be given by a police officer on cyberbullying.  I had been to a seminar given by this same officer a couple of years ago and had decided that I wasn’t going to go. 

After reading the chapter on cyberbullying in the book, I decided that I would go to hear what he had to say.  Things are different now then they were just a couple of years ago and it seems that teens and tweens have a lot more ways to access the digital world now then they did then.  He talked about how kids were using tweets and posting pictures to photo sharing sites in addition to the other social networking sites that were popular with them a couple of years ago. 

Both the book and the police officer gave examples of real world situations—some were about empowerment and some were very sad. 

The officer said that cyberbullying was not just a juvenile problem but also a community problem.   He talked about monitoring mobile devices, computers, and connected gaming consoles.  Since libraries are part of the community and often offer these devises for check out or use in the library, I looked at a few public library internet/computer use policies and found them to be similar library to library. 

I did an article search and found a couple of interesting articles in the Young Adult Library Services Journal.  “Stick, Stones, and Words Can Hurt You:  Antibullying Resources” by Madelene Barand offers a list of books, fiction and non-fiction, for teens and adults as well as a list of online resources.  The officer talked about using stories such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as an example of bullying, a story well known to all kids.  “Cyberbullying and Teens What YA Librarians Can Do to Help” offers information about who the bullies are, who their victims and what YA librarians can do to help.  There is also a list of resources and information about reporting cyberbullying. 

I’m interested in it, I am sad about it, and soon I will be dancing about it.  Some of the schools in the area are bringing in a group to have an assembly for middle schoolers about bullying and cyberbullying.  My principal asked if I would be willing to be in one of the skits, a hip-hop style dance, and I agreed.  I apparently have a 75-minute rehearsal to attend that morning—I am part of the community.   We’ll see how it goes.  

Agosto, D. E., Forte, A., & Magee, R. (2012). Cyberbullying and Teens What YA Librarians Can Do to Help. Young Adult Library Services, 10(2), 38-43.

Barnard, M. (2009). Sticks, Stones, and Words Can Hurt You: Antibullying Resources. Young Adult Library Services, 8(1), 33-39.

Goodstein, Anastasia. (2007) Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online. New York, NY: Saint Martin's Griffin.