Social Media Insights January to April 2021

The start of 2021 has seen the virtual library continue to be the most essential part of the library’s operations, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this, the library’s social media platforms have been essential for disseminating information and services to our patrons, and particularly those new to the university. Our social media team took this challenge head-on, and created a plethora of posts to aid our patrons through their digital learning journeys.

In conjunction with the Learning Centre, the social media team developed a weekly series of posts under the title #UseYourLibrary, which gave our followers instructional tips for using the virtual library’s most basic services. These included accessing one’s library account, book digitisation services, and introducing the “Chat” function. We also started a #ResearchTipoftheWeek series, in conjunction with the Research Commons, which aimed to give researchers useful tips for optimising their work. The series thus far has offered practical tips, suggested useful tools, provided wellness assistance, and introduced researchers to their information specialists. In fact, at the start of term, we ran a full series of posts introducing library staff, so that patrons could put a face to the people helping them in this digital landscape.

Humanising our content was a priority across our social media, as we wanted to maintain personal contact with our patrons. This included the continuation of our #ThrowbackThursday series, to help patrons feel close to the physical library space, even from afar, and of our #MondayMotivation series, to help motivate our patrons in these trying times. We created several posts that encouraged user interaction, to give our channels another personal element. We also ran two competitions focussed on increasing engagement with our patrons. The first, our Library Lovers’ Month Competition, saw dozens of patrons write love letters to our libraries, and three of them won prizes worth a total of R6000! The other, to celebrate LIASA SA Library Week, encouraged interaction with our social media platforms, and resulted in two patrons winning some great UP merchandise.

Our social media also provides a platform for advertising our many services to the people who need them. We did this in an abundance of ways, but primarily through a collaborative series with the Library Technical Services team called #eResources, through promoting our Special Collection Unit’s #BookoftheWeek, and in partnerships through clients, such as the Wiley Online Library and McGraw Hill. Despite all of this, we never forgot to have some fun with our patrons too, by celebrating special days in fun and interactive ways, and with regular features such as our #ThisDayinHistory series, and the weekly #jigsawpuzzle posted in conjunction with the Special Collections Unit. We also continued our project to encourage a reading culture at the University of Pretoria, nowhere more clearly than with our #CelebrateSAWriters series.

This just scratches the surface of what was a wonderful few months for the UP Library on social media, which saw us attain new heights in terms of follower numbers. The next portion of 2021 offers even more space for getting exciting and useful content to our patrons. If you aren’t already, follow us now on Facebook (UP Library Services), Instagram (@uplibrary) and/or Twitter (@UPLibrary), so that you don’t miss out!