The Library's Global Footprint (2010)

2023 UPDATE:  Several staff involved in Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library's social media initiative have moved on to other libraries (or other jobs, or retired) since this article was first published (May 9, 2012):

• Suzanne Walker, MLS (2007-2012) was Director of Youth Services.
• Casey O'Leary, MLS (2012-2019) was Director of Programs & Youth Services.
• Kate Meador, MLS (2010-2013) was Assistant Library Director & Technical Services Manager.
• Rachel Montgomery, MLS (2012-2013) was Teen Librarian.
• Meghan Adams, MLS (2008-2015) was Adult Programming & Teen Services Coordinator.
• Jaymi Edwards (2009-2012) was Early Literacy Specialist.
• Michelle Peltier (2012-2015) was Early Literacy Specialist.
• Jess Frederick, MLS (2015-2017) was Early Literacy Librarian.
• Emily Fleischer, MLS  (2019-2021) was Youth Services Librarian.
• Ethan Shepherd, MLS (2020-2021) was Director of Youth Services.
• Tammy Rainey (2020-2023) was Life Enrichment Coordinator.
  
• Cauli Le Chat (2010-2018) was the official MPL Feline Roving Reporter (Cauli passed away in 2020).
• William R. Buckley was the Indiana Room Librarian/Historian (2007-2012) and Director of Adult Information Services (2013-2023).

Still with Mooresville Public Library (MPL) as of June, 2023 (working on social media and library marketing) are:

• Diane Huerkamp, MLS, Executive Director of Library Services (2005 to the present); previously served in a variety of positions, including Assistant Director, Head of Reference, and Youth Services Assistant (1997-2004).
• Sandra Osborn, MLS, Director of Technical Services (2014-2018) and Deputy Director of Library Services (2018 to the present).
• Megan Edwards, Assistant Youth Services Director & Teen Outreach Librarian (2017 to the present).
• Whitney Woody, MLS, Director of Youth Services & Programs (2022 to the present).
• Victoria Hillis, Youth Services Librarian (2023 to the present).
• Sam Jones, Technology Assistant & Information Specialist (2023 to the present).
  
• Stephanie Moore, Adult/Outreach Program Coordinator (2023 to the present).

Librarian Suzanne Walker, Director of Youth Services (2007-2012), spearheaded the library's social media initiative in 2010, when the library registered various online social media accounts.  Numerous staff (listed above) wrote readers' advisory, historical, humorous, and youth services program blogs from 2010 through 2016.  Due to their time-sensitive content, such as now-past program dates or now-completed events, all of these blogs have either been removed or are no longer active (as of 2017), but several remain online as archives.

 

Library staff also used an online document repository called DocStoc (now defunct) (2010-2015), as well as Slideshare (2012-2020), a PDF slideshow app; Flickr (2008-2014), an online digital image repository; and the social networking website Tumblr (2011-2014).  Some of this digital content remains available online, although it is not updated.

As of May 6, 2023, the library was actively maintaining these social media sites below (with dates of origin in parentheses):

• MPL YouTube Channel (est. January 2010), the library's most popular social media site, with over two million total video views; 
• Mooresville, Indiana Treasure Trove Blog (est. April 2010) (which you're now reading);
• MooresPubLib on Twitter (est. April 2010);
• MPL on Facebook (est. August 2010);
• MPL on SoundCloud (est. August 2010) (featuring MPL Composer Daniel E. Buckley's original musical compositions);
• MPL on Pinterest (est. 2012); 
• MPL on Instagram (est. 2017); 
• MPL YAZ on Instagram (est. 2017); 
• YAZMPLdiscord on Discord (est. 2020);

The following blogs remain online but are not currently updated:

•  Cat's Eye View @ MPL Blog (est. December 2010) (by Cauli Le Chat, MPL feline roving reporter) (Cauli retired in 2015 but continued to occasionally post; she came out of retirement in early 2018 when her blog viewings reached half a million.  Cauli passed away in 2020.);
• Biblio-Techno Global Footprint Blog (est. May 2017), a technology blog for librarians;
• Suzanne's Picks for Teens (est. May 2006);
• Suzanne’s Picture Book Picks (est. June 2007);
• Teen Review Blog (est. July 2009);
• Explore to Learn:  Early Literacy Fun (est. September 2011);
• Kate's Manga & Anime Reviews (est. April 2010);
• Lil' Rae of Sunshine (est. May 2009); and
• The Savvy Reader (est. March 2012).

MPL has established a global footprint through its use of social media.  Patrons worldwide followed the library's blogs, watched the library's videos, listened to the library composer's music, looked at the library's program photographs, and downloaded or viewed the library's digitized images, handouts, or slideshows.  They continue to follow MPL on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Discord.  This social media presence supplements the library's website, which has existed (in three or four different versions) for a decade and a half.

 

Besides social media, the library's marketing team uses more traditional technologies to promote library programs, services, and resources, such as an outdoor LED sign, in-house TV monitors (showing an assortment of library videos), and, of course, print materials (signs, pamphlets, brochures, handouts, bookmarks, etc.).

The library's social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Discord, and Instagram, have, along with the library's blogs, reached over three-quarters of a million readers.  In March, 2017, the library's YouTube video viewership surpassed one million, second in the country among public libraries (first is the New York Public Library's YouTube channel; third is Johnson County, Indiana Public Library's YouTube channel).  In 2021, MPL YouTube channel passed two million views.  As of December, 2023, viewership reached nearly 2.6 million.  Not bad for a small-town, mid-size public library serving a community of about 15,000.

We invite you to peruse our online social media sites.  We hope you find something interesting and helpful.  There's much information available.  Simply by reading this, you are one of our patrons, to whom we pledge our service.