Social Media

    

    Since coming to MBTS, I have become the social media manager for the Library. And in case you think, "That gotta be easy." That is far from the truth. Although, social media is fun, it is not easy. If you want to do it right, you have to put a lot of work into your strategy. There is not point in doing social media if you don't engage your with your audience.
     Librarians can especially find social media difficult. This is both true for small and large libraries. Small libraries can run into problems such as having to defend their need for a library account to a library board or administration. Large libraries can run into other problems such as frustration over the fact that they do not have a lot of followers even though they are a large institution.
     The point of social media is to be "social". You need to find some way to interact with your users in order to create a relationship with them. If you are just putting out posts that are not generating traffic and responses, then you are not reaching them. Do not mistake me for saying that you need a lot of followers or likes to be "successful". Ultimately, it is about the quality and interactions then the actual final count of how many people are seeing your post.

Here is a list of things that I have found useful in social media. These ideas and suggestions come from Laura Soloman's The Librarian's Nitty Gritty Guide to Social Media, Mark Shaffer's The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time, and some of my own experience.
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• Find out what social media services your audience is using. The MBTS Spurgeon Twitter account currently has over 2,300 followers. However, our Spurgeon Facebook account has not made it to 200, yet. I don't see that as a failure. With Facebook, you have to pay for pages to be promoted. It is hard to get the attention of pastors, professors, and theologians throughout the world. However, it is not that way with Twitter. All it needed was a few follows, follow backs, and retweets. After we started gaining alot of attention it, we grew exponentially. Our audience for Spurgeon is on Twitter. Don't start an account on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or whatever the next new thing is and expect people to find you. Use your library training. Find your users and bring your services to them like you would with any other library service.
• Get a strategy. Think about what kinds of contents you will and will not post. Our Library social media does #MotivationMondays where we put in a qoute from a famous theologian, #TitleTuesdays in which we showcase an ebook title, #WorldWednesdays where we showcase pictures from our Missionary archive, #ThrowbackThursday where we post a picture from our institution's history, and #FasthelpFriday which we use to showcase a database or LibGuide. With the Spurgeon social media, I have chosen to do more seasonal themes such as Puritan books for Thanksgiving, Dickens books for Christmas, and works by Shakespeare and Lord Byron. Other times I will post books that center around an event in his life. There will be times when you will think forever about what to post and it will be a complete dud. Other times you will think about five seconds about it, and surprisingly it gain lots of attention. Social media is dynamic. If at first you are not getting the results you are looking for, then keep trying. If you keep hitting a wall then you may want to change what you are doing. But it is good to at least have an idea what kinds of things you will post.
• Seek out followers and follow back. This is especially relevant with Twitter. As I said, social media is social. Conan O'Brien can get away with having millions of followers and following one person. You can not. Use Twitter to build up a support group. Follow other libraries, archives, professors, and organizations that are like minded. Many of them will follow you back and later retweet you. It is considered bad etiquette not to follow someone back on Twitter. Also, it will allow you to see what others are talking about.
•  When you do a post, always think "so what"? You may think something is important, but your patrons and audience may not understand why they should care. You bought a new database! Great but why should your patrons care? Explain concisely what your database, service, or event means to them. Make your posts about them and not just about you. Is this post suppose to entertain, encourage, or inform them of  something new?
• If you want to be successful in social media, you need to learn the gift of brevity. When you are doing a social media post, you are competing against literally thousands of posts. If every single one of your posts ends with "... Click here to read more", then you will not be successful. If you have long posts then you will be largely ignored. People want as much information possible in the shortest and quickest way as possible. Never make a social media post more then three to four sentences. Not many people want to read something on social media that will take them more then ten seconds.
• Use pictures. I like pictures. You like pictures. Chances are really good that your patrons like pictures too.  Pictures are a great way to engage your patrons. Looking at long lines of text in social media can bore your audience. Pictures are a wonderful method of getting attention.    

Well, that is all I have for now. My next post will be on what I learned about social media from the Midwest Archives Conference.    

Library Life as of now

     I have been meaning to write this post for a while. I just keep getting distracted with other things. Life has been very busy for me so don't judge me too hard for slacking on my blog. I have wanted to write a post about working at Midwestern. I really do like working here. There are a lot of unique opportunities that I have at MBTS that I would not have at other institutions. For instance, I have so many different jobs that I do during the day. I order print and electronic books, manage social media accounts for the Library and the Spurgeon Collection, downloading items to CDM, converting cassette tapes to MP3 format,teach instruction classes, and answer reference questions. I have gained diverse experience that I may have not gotten at a larger institution. Also, living on campus gives me a unique experience since I  live among the Library patrons. I am sure there are many librarians who would welcome the opportunity of living among those they serve in order to gauge the needs of their users. My boss and coworkers in the Library are also excellent. I feel very fortunate to get to work with them.
    This past year has given me opportunities to publish in an academic journal. Last December, I published two book reviews in The Christian Librarian,the journal for the Association of Christian Librarians (ACL). Hopefully, I will get a few more book reviews published with them along with an article based on a presentation that my boss and I will give at the ACL conference based on our Personal Librarian and Research Coach programs. I may even get published in an other academic evangelical journal.
     Also, I have started serving with some professional organizations. I am currently the treasurer for the Kansas City Area Archivists. There are also several ways to get through ACL. Since starting employment at MBTS, I have been indexing for the Christian Periodical Index (CPI). CPI is an indexing resource for academic Christian periodicals provided by ACL. The past year I was elected to serve on the Association of Christian Librarians Book Award 2014-2016 for Non Fiction. I will be apart of a team that nominates and votes on the best academic Christian book published between 2014-2016. This will be a great way to serve the academic Christian community.
      Also, I have started volunteering at the WWI Museum. This has been an incredible experience. If you live anywhere near a history, art, or presidential museum, than I highly suggest you consider volunteering at that institution. This has given me a chance to not only serve my community but to learn more about a very significant point in history.
     All in all things are going very good here in KC. I am enjoying all the different ways that I get to develop professionally. This summer, I will get the chance to present at a few conferences which will take me out of my two year hiatus of conference presentations. Well, that is all for now. Hopefully, it won't be too long until my next post.
    

Books Read in 2013

1) History of Christianity in Korea by In Soo Kim
2) A Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling
3) Follow Me by David Platt
4) Journey Through the Afterlife : Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead by John Taylor
5) A History of Korea by William Henthorn
6) Letters of John NIV Application Commentary by Gary M. Burge
7) The Death Cure by James Dashner
8) Sever by Lauren DeStafano
9) History of the Church in Korea by Allen Clark
10) Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
11) Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
12) Son of Sobek by Rick Riordian (Short story)
13) The Historian by  Elizabeth Kostova
14) The Dead Sea Scrolls Today by James Vanderkam
15) Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible by James Vanderkam 
16) Jerusalem Testament : Palestinian Christians Speak 1988-2008 by Melanie May
17) Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien 
28) Star Trek:Countdown
29) Old Testament Documents? Are they Reliable and Relevant by Walter Kaiser, Jr.
30) Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card 
31)  I am a Church Member by Thom Rainer
32) The House of Hades by Rick Riordian   

Journey into the Afterlife

   As I was selecting books for the Midwestern Library, I came across a title called Journey to the Afterlife: The Egyptian Book of the Dead.  This is something I wanted to purchase for the Library since the Egyptians played a huge role in Biblical history. I also thought it would be useful for the archaeology department. Recently, I have had an interest in Egyptians because of the Egypt exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art(which is an amazing place to visit if you are ever in Kansas City). The Egyptian Book of the Dead is not a book as we would think of it today. It is a collection of spells listed on scrolls, tombs, statues, and other tools for the dead that were suppose to help them in the after life.This book was published by The British Museum. I suppose the best way I could describe this book is an adult picture book/ coffee table book. It is not too text heavy since it is mostly pictures. This book includes beautiful pictures of many Egyptian idols, funeral tools, scrolls, statues, and pottery. It showed how the Egyptians used their sarcophagi to call upon the powers of certain gods. These sarcophagi were especially significant for the pharaohs and other royalty since they believed they inhabited the gods. The spells listed in the Book of the Dead were suppose to help them get through the different phases of the afterlife and help them when they reach Osiris in the judgement hall.  One thing that I thought was interesting is how they used different spells to ensure their hearts did not confess their wrong doing during their life. It also explained the different beliefs that the Egyptians had about the afterlife through the different dynasties. If you are looking for more information on the Egyptians or enjoy archaeology, then you should definitely read this book.

Also, in case you missed it, here is a story about a sarcophagus that moved on its own at the Manchester Museum....Kinda creepy! http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/uk-spinning-statue-mystery/index.html

Robert's Reads - June 2013

Sorry, that I have not been posting lately. I have had a lot of things going on this semester. I intend to post more on what I have been doing at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. But for now, I have some book suggestions for all my readers.   
If you are wondering what you should read this Summer, here are some suggestions. I have listed two fiction books that you may enjoy.

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

I read Ender's Game last year for my YA class. I really enjoyed it. It is a wonderful science fiction story that both young adults and adults will find exciting. It was very dark story about an organization forcing children to doing horrible things. It was the story of a boy named Ender training in the International Fleet to one day to defeat the Formics (or the Buggers). I decided to read the sort of sequel/parallel book/sidequel Ender's Shadow. This story focuses on Bean, one of Ender's soldiers from the first book. It shows how he was recruited to the International Fleet and his training in Battle School. I personally found this story a little more exciting then Ender's Game. It focused more on the world that Card created instead of focusing on the military strategy of the Battle Room. If you are a fan of science fiction, then this series is a must read for you. However, I do want to issue a warning that this book can be rough to read in some areas because of the violence.Ender's Game movie because of the cast which will include Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Ben Kinsley. Also, Orson Scott Card has been involved with the film as well. I have also heard that elements of Ender's Shadow will be in the new movie.

 

Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

If you know me then you know that I love the Percy Jackson's series. It has really helped me out through my Harry Potter withdrawals. This is Rick Riordan's newest book in The Heroes of Olympus series (which is a sequel series to Percy Jackson). In the Heroes of Olympus series, it is revealed that a Roman demigod camp exists. The children of Camp Jupiter are children of the gods Roman aspects. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter have been separated by magic for several centuries since Greeks and Romans demigods constantly war with one another. This book combines the teams of demigods who went on quests from the first two books in the series. The quest for this book is led by Annabeth Chase (Percy's girlfriend). Although she has been the leader of a quest once before, the story does focus a lot on her. I also really enjoyed seeing the main characters from different series and books finally coming together in this book. It is always interesting to see what gods and monsters Riordan will add into his series.  This time we get Hercules, Nemesis, Narcissus, and Arachne.Riordan always adds the perfect combination of comedy, history, myth, and action into his books. One thing that I always do with the books in this series is listen to it on audio. The narration always makes the story more animated. Riordan is a wonderful storyteller. Although I like his Kane series; the Greek world that he has created is far more engaging for me. If you enjoy fantasy and myth, then you need to check out the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series.

I am also looking forward to the Percy Jackson : Sea of Monster's movie. It looks like the producers and writers will try to make this into a better adaption of the book.

Robert's Reads of 2012

All throughout the year I have been keeping up with the books and graphic novels that I have read this year. I am so glad that I finally get to share this list with all of my readers. I am looking forward to reading more fantastic books in 2013!

1) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
2) The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (Re-Read)
3) The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
4) Mare's War by Tanitia S. Davis
5) Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordian
6) A Step from Heaven by An Na
7) The Arrival by Shuan Tan
8) Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac
9) From the Notebook of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson
10) Dawn Land by Joseph Bruchac
11) Burn my Heart by Beverly Naidoo
12)Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordian
13) Secrets in the Fire by Henning Mankell
14) Dancing Home by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel M. Zubizarreta
15) Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
16) Charles and Emma: The Darwins's Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
17) Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordian
18) The Mighty Miss Malone by Christoper Paul Curtis
19) Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling
20) Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordian
21) Monster by Walter Dean Myers
22) Talk About a Family by Eloise Greenfield
23) Bluish by Virginia Hamilton
24) Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Demigod Files by Rick Riordian
25) November Blues by Sharon Draper
26) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
27) Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bollard
28) Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
29) Teen Boat by Dave Roman and John Green
30) Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger
31) You Don't Know about Me by Brian Meehl
32) The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
33) The Shepherd's Tale by Joss and Zack Wheedon
34) Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordian
35) Nation by Terry Pratchet
36) Wither by Lauren DeStefano
37) Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
38) The Dark Knight Rises by Frank Miller
39) The Pregnancy Project by Gabriel Rodriguez
40) Serving Religious Youth: A Guide to Services, Programs, and Collections edited by L. Kay Carman and Carl S. Reich
41) Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe
42) Library Wars Vol. 1 Love and War by Kiiro Yumi and Hiro Arikawa
43)  This Thing Called the Future by J.L.Powers
44) Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
45) Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordian
46) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
47) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (Re-read)
48) The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (Re-read)
49) Maze Runner by James Dashner
50) Fever by Lauren DeStefano
51) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
52) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
53) A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
54) Uglies by Scott Westerfield
55) Forgotten God by Francis Chan
56) The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (Re-read)
57) The Watson's Go To Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
58) The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
59) Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
60) Erasing Hell by Francis Chan
61) Essential Mighty Thor Volume 1
62) Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
63) Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White by Lila Quintero Weaver
64) Miracles by C.S. Lewis
65) The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordian
66) Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert
67) All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon
68) The Secret of Fortune Wookie by Tom Angleberger
69) Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
70) One Sacred Effort : The Cooperative Program of Southern Baptists by Chad Owen Brand and David E. Hankins
71) Marvel 1602 New World / Fantatick Four by Peter David, Greg Pak, Pascal Alixe, and Greg Tocchini
72) Nothing but the Truth by John MacArthur
73) Marvel 1602 Spider-Man by Jeff Parker and Ramon Rosanas
74) The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordian
75) The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordian
76) The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
77) Serpant's Shadow by Rick Riordian
78) Best Practices of Online Education : A Guide for Christian Higher Education by Mark Maddix, James R. Estep, Mary E. Lowe
79) Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordian
80) Focus on Fact by John MacArthur
81) Radical by David Platt (Re-read)
82) Till He Comes by Charles Spurgeon

Robert's Summer Reads

So, I just wanted to share with some of you a few of the books that I have been reading this summer. I have a mixture of adult and children's books to share with you.

Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

   So, I saw the John Carter movie when it came out a few months ago. I absolutely loved it, even though it is now Disney's biggest bomb at the theater. I thought it was a lovely story. The movie pretty much followed the book. Although, there were some minor changes to the story. The story is about a man named John Carter, a nineteenth century Virginina, who is mysteriously transported to Mars. Once there he becomes involved in a war between two Martian cities. I decided to read the book and I enjoyed it as well. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote this book series before he started on the Tarzan books. If you are a fan of adventure or science fiction stories, you should check out Princess of Mars.


Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick


    I decided to check this book out because it was written by the same author who wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The amazing thing about that book is that the story was told in both pictures and words. I am not talking about a picture book. It had over five hundred pages. Three hundred of those pages were beautiful, hand drawn, black/white illustrations. This book was done in a similar format. However, the difference is that one story was told in pictures and another story was told in words. At the end of the book the two stories come together in an interesting way. Each story focuses on a character who is deaf.  Basically it shows how the hearing impaired deal with the world around them and the prejudices they endure. I would definitely recommend this book.

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

   Last summer I read Interview with a Vampire. Click Here for My Review.  
Since I enjoyed it so much, I decided to read the sequel The Vampire Lestat. In this book, Lestat gives an account of his life. In this book you see a Lestat that is much more caring then the sociopath that was portrayed in the first book. This one was not quite as action driven as the first one. Lestat is on a mission in this book to discover the origins of vampires and try to find some sort of reason for his existence. I think Anne Rice is very descriptive and writes in a beautiful language.If you enjoyed the first book in the series, you definitely need to give this book a read.



Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

     Last year I read Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider. I thought that it was a beautiful story, so I decided to pick up the first book in her Inkheart series. It is about a young girl, named Maggie, who discovers that her father has the ability to read characters out of books. Unfortunately, the last characters he read out were villains and tricksters. Maggie and her father are forced to come into contact with these characters and try to send them back into their own world. I thought that this was a wonderful children's book. I definitely want to read the rest of the series. If you like fantasy, then you should read this book.