Tag Archives: Pinterest

Best practices on social media

The Art of Social Media

We’ve all seen it: the embarrassing gaffe on social media. In the past, only a few people, or a few hundred, would know you screwed up; now people around the world could see and comment.

Should that stop you from being on social media??

NO!

 Should the time required to find great accounts to follow stop you?

NO!

Should the effort involved in creating good, interesting, useful content for your community stop you?

NO!

Continue reading Best practices on social media

Need makerspace ideas or gadgets?

Tecnologia - Technology (2)By now, you’ve probably heard about makerspaces. (If not, catch up here). Here at CMLE, we think they are pretty exciting. All the opportunities for hands-on learning and creation! But it’s easy to find the endless possibilities slightly overwhelming. Wondering where to start? CMLE has done that work for you! We’ve published a great deal about makerspaces, and want to share our wealth of knowledge! See below for ideas and inspiration, tools to use, and where to find makerspaces.

 

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/pkdbtf9, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

CMLE’s Makerspace LibGuide

15854128181_5c4ec55106_kSometimes you just need an idea to get you started. Are you looking for Makerspace ideas? Then look no further than CMLE’s new Makerspace LibGuide! We’ve worked hard over the summer to finalize the lists and format them (not to overwhelm). Divided into 9 different categories, we’ve create lists of ideas that will hopefully get you and your library started! From Food to Programming its time to let the ideas flow!

This LibGuide sprang from our Makerspace Mania series where we talked about what is a Makerspace, Pinterest the Makerspace Resource, How Academic and Public Libraries are getting into the Makerspace movement and finally our call for your Makerspace ideas! You can check out the whole series now!

Did we miss a great Makerspace idea? Tell us about it! On the Libguide, just click on the green plus sign next to the Submit link in the Description box. Then we’ll add it to the list!

makerspace3

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/l92kuy3, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Librarians Show off Their Skills on Pinterest

Libraries of all types are utilizing Pinterest to connect with their users! Pinterest is great for this, because people can choose to follow just one of the library’s boards, all of them, or some number in between. Kiersten Bryant of INALJ (I Need A Library Job) browsed Pinterest and has put together a Top 10 list of libraries to follow. She finds these boards to be the most “inspiring and noteworthy.”  Here are 3 to get you started:

Bowling Green State University Music Library – Includes funny but informative videos about using the library.

 

Flannel Friday – Great for children’s libraries and librarians.

 

The New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan Art and Picture Collections – NYPL is a great example of a library using Pinterest.

Pinterest 101: Getting Started

Pinterest is a great resource for librarians and library staff, great for Makerspaces, and a good site for plain-old-fun, too!  Here’s a quick how-to to get started on Pinterest:

  • After you create an account here, the site will also ask you to pick your interests – they will be topics you follow, and Pinterest will suggest boards & pinners related to those interests.  Don’t feel bound to getting it perfect right away – you can update these later.

Main page

Main page example

Your main page has pins which are based on the interests you selected during sign-up.  Pins are images that link to content on other sites – some people pin pictures, others pin for other external content.


Anatomy of a pin

  • Pin example 3The description underneath the image can be changed when you repin the pin
  • Under the description, we can see that the pin has been repinned 150 times and liked 80 times
  • The pin was found in “Humor” – you would see this if you selected “Humor” as an interest
  • When you hold your cursor over the Pin, you will see three buttons that allow you to Pin it to one of your boards, Send it privately to a fellow pinner, or Like it (the heart icon)Top of Pin
  • Pinterest will show you pins based on your interests, but will also suggest new boards and pinners for you.

 


Following

NYPL

  • You can follow pinners by typing their name in the search bar, selecting “Pinners” underneath the bar, and selecting “Follow” underneath their profile link
  • The circle with the check mark inserted means that Pinterest has verified this is THE New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Pinterest account
  • Following NYPL ensures that all of their pins show up on your main page

 

 

NYPL boards

  •  You can follow boards instead of pinners as well
  • These are two of the NYPL’s boards – if you’ve had your fair share of internet cats, you can decide to follow just “NYPL <3 U”
  • Following a board ensures that all of the pins to that board show up on your main page, but not all the pins that the pinner pins

 


Well, now you’ve got a hold on Pinterest!  As with any other site, there’s some more exploring that you can do to learn more and get more out of your account.  One of the best things about Pinterest is it’s ease of use – especially as a new user – the site will show you what to do.

Happy pinning!