Exploring Ways Libraries Use BookTok! (part two)

 

Observations from this librarian Tik Toker! @gvhslibrary

• She organizes her library with something called "dynamic shelving" instead of static book shelving. It basically means that instead of having all the spines facing outwards, some of the covers face the front and series get stacked together. 
• She has many makerspace stations, where you can make crafty things suck as bookmarks or friendship bracelets. 
• She makes a lot of "top 10" videos with a bunch of different prompts. Some of them include "top 10 books checked out last year" and "top 10 manga books".
• She also has filmed some tours of her library, which is a really good video idea we could steal. It would be nice for someone who might not know if they want to come inside to see a video of all the different areas so they could get familiar and comfortable with where everything is.

Summary of this article: 5 Things Libraries Should Know

The book community has taken over TikTok by storm! A lot of people who either are librarians, authors, or just people who love reading like to spend their time making, re-sharing, and taking inspo from various BookToks. One of the ways BookTok has had a large impact is on the publishing industry. Since promoting a book through TikTok is basically identical to filming a free commercial, so many authors have gone viral, which have helped them sell more books. Nowadays, authors love to go make videos promoting their books and it has caused them to have a massive spike in sales. Matter of fact, even if you don't have TikTok itself, you can find BookTok videos on different websites. You can also use the platform to re-share other people's posts and have many diverse perspectives. Lastly, this is a great resource for doing collection development, since you can always stay updated with the latest trending books, and new debut authors, for free too!

5 Things Fraser Heights Should be Focusing on For Our Success. (From this article: TikTok: 23 Tips For Success

• Keeping the handle consistent on all the social media platforms, so the TikTok account is easy to find. 
• Hooking viewers within the first 1-3 seconds is important so they stay engaged and don't want to scroll to the next video. Putting things like "wait for it" and watch to the end" could be helpful for hooking people. 
• Engaging with other creators, mostly librarians from other schools, would be really nice to create community between different schools in our district. Librarians could help each other out and give each other tips. 
• Posting often would be a smart idea since, there are always different topics of books we want to highlight, and we have many new books coming in. 
• Making sure your personality can be shown through the video is also a good way to largen your audience. You just have to show your genuine, authentic self and people will naturally be more inclined to stay and watch. 

The TikTok I made for our Surrey Teen Reads!

https://www.tiktok.com/@fraserheightslibrary/video/7309902738538646790?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7306209985141671429