Author Archives: Jennifer Koerber

Snapshot Day is a wrap!

Thank you everyone for participating in – or following – MA Library Snapshot Day 2014. We’ve had some great photos, and lots of folks telling us they had a blast. See them at the Snapshot Day Flickr Group.

So far, 157 libraries have registered, with 63 of them participating for the first time. Take a look at the full list of participating libraries, and click through on their social media links to see what they’ve posted to Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, and Instagram.

If your library participated but hasn’t registered yet, it’s not too late. Visit the Registration page and submit the form.

If you collected use statistics, memorable moments, or great patron quotes during Snapshot Day, please take a moment and share them by filling out a short, easy survey.

Again, thanks, and hope you had a lovely Snapshot Day!

Snapshot Day Survey is live

We hope you’re having fun celebrating MA Library Snapshot Day Week! The photos in the Flickr group are coming in fast and furious. You can see what individual libraries are posting to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram from the list of participating libraries.

Now, it’s time to start sharing more than just photos. Any time before April 25th, please fill out this short survey with the information you collected on Snapshot Day. If you don’t have all the numbers, that’s fine – please send us what you do have, and especially any great patron quotes you’ve got.

Keep those snapshots coming, and have a lovely rest of the week!

Snapshot Day (week) is here!

It’s here! MA Snapshot Day kicks off today, Monday, April 7th and lasts all this week.

For last-minute ideas, check out the Planning for Snapshot Day page and the Plan, Prepare, and Promote page.

During your Snapshot day, please keep track of the following as best you can:

  • # of patrons / door count
  • program attendance / class visits (special Snapshot Day programs & regular programs)
  • use of library technology (computers, library laptops & mobile devices, other library-provided technology)
  • community use of library space (meetings, displays, student groups, programs, etc.)
  • http://www.masslibsystem.org/snapmass/wp-admin/post-new.php#edit_timestamp

  • any special highlights or nifty things that happened that day

After Snapshot Day, but before April 25th, please share your stats and any memorable quotes from patrons through the surveys on the Capture page.

If you get stuck, look for troubleshooting ideas on our Support page or email snapmass@gmail.com for help from our MayDay team.

Have fun, good luck, and enjoy MA Snapshot Day 2014!

Patrons say the nicest things!

Today’s guest post is from Snapshot Day committee member Celeste Bruno of the MBLC:

Pictures aren’t the only great part of Snapmass – amazing comments from patrons really show how strongly people feel about their library.

In the toolkit, you’ll find comment cards to help you collect what patrons are saying. To make it easy for you to share some of your best comments on the Snapmass survey, you’ll see a free-text field where you can add your favorites.

Of course, collecting comments isn’t limited to people who are in the library. Patrons can use social media to share why they love their library. Encourage patrons to post to the Snapmass Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/snapmass. On Twitter, patrons can tag tweets with #snapmass14. In order for you to be able to identify comments from your particular patrons, people should also be encouraged to include the name of the town or library.

Here are a few wonderful patron quotes from 2012:

Our library and library staff are wonderful. From allowing students to find a quiet place to work to allowing adults to meet for a Civil War Round Table to a book club, the library is the heartbeat of our community. – East Bridgewater Public Library

We could not live here without our library! The Sawyer Free Library is one of the treasures of the community & provides an invaluable, irreplaceable service to all of us. – Alecia & David, Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester

I love coming to the library to get my work done. It’s always very quiet and the librarians are all very helpful. It really aids in my success. – Greenfield Community College

I love the library. It feels like home. Everyone is friendly and helpful. – Norton Public Library

I think that there is a nice balance being able to study in a quiet environment and learn with your friends help or helping a friend! – Westborough High School

Beware the Ides of Snapshot…

Today’s post comes from Snapshot Day committee member Kirsten Underwood of the Nevins Memorial Library, Methuen:

So it’s the middle of March and time is flying…time to review the Checklist for Snapshot day. This is a great resource describing what needs to happen so that Snapshot Day goes smoothly when it arrives during the Week of April 7-12.

Now is a great time to create or update your Flickr Account and upload 5 pictures to get going. It’s also a good time to practice setting tags. Including tags will help you and your patrons find your pictures once they have been added to the Snapmass group on Flickr. In 2011, there were over 3000 pictures added to the Snapshot day group – that’s a lot of browsing! It’s much easier to find the pictures if they are tagged correctly.

This year include as many of these tags as possible:

  • snapmass14 – if nothing else, please add this tag
  • Your Library’s Name
  • Your Library’s Town
  • Your Library Network (MBLN, NOBLE, CWMARS, etc.)
  • Photo release on file – if you have a photo release form for everyone in the picture
  • Other useful tags: program titles, important people in the photo, special things featured in the photo (artwork, statues, library treasures), etc.

Checkout the great toolkit that makes getting ready for Snapshot day so easy. Just input your date into the toolkit and you have instant publicity material and bookmarks as well as posters and a press release. Easy Peasy!!

Looking forward to seeing all the great pictures and hearing some great stories from all our participating libraries….and that number is growing every day. Time to register and start planning for a fun event.

Snapshot at the MSLA Conference next week

Today’s blog post is from Snapshot Day committee member Linda Picceri, School Library Media Specialist:

The Massachusetts School Library Association’s annual conference begins this Sunday, March 9th. It looks like the Conference Committee has once again put together a great schedule. I look forward to these two days every year and always leave the Conference more energized and inspired. There are so many wonderful things happening in our school libraries more people need to know about the valuable services and instruction we as school library teachers provide. What better way to get the word out than to participate in Snapshot Day!

Look for Kim Cochrane and me at the MSLA Conference. We will be there with all the information you’ll need in order to sign up and prepare for your special Snapshot Day. We will also be able to answer any questions you may have. See you there!

Don’t miss out on Snapshot Day 2014!

A quick note from MA Snapshot Day Committee chair Nancy Rea:

Join the libraries that have already registered and get ready to celebrate your library with photos from one day during the week of April 7th. Plan a special event for the day or celebrate your wonderful library just as it is!

Explore this website for all the details you will need, including a toolkit full of tips and information to make your day terrific. You will find instructions for using Flickr and uploading your photos. The Planning tab will lead you through your day step-by-step. You will even find a list and map (coming soon!) of libraries that are already registered!

This is a day to celebrate all types of libraries – public, school, academic, special. Register and join the fun today!

Snapshot Spotlight: Academic libraries

Six weeks out from Snapshot Day and registrations are coming in – more than 20 libraries have already signed up to participate this year. Will you be the next?

Today’s guest blogger is Kim Cochrane from the Henry Whittemore Library at Framingham State University, talking about the special ways in which academic libraries can benefit from being a part of Snapshot Day:

Snapshot Day is a great time to showcase your library – academic, school, public, and special libraries should all take part of this important exposure opportunity.

Academic libraries have the advantage of a mostly over-18 patron base, all of whom are able to grant permission for their photos to be used online. We have thoroughly enjoyed our Snapshot Days here at Framingham State; sometimes we have special events going on that we can boast about, and sometimes we just showcase our busy library as-is.

Alumni appreciate seeing the changes that have happened in the library since they left the hallowed halls, and our current students love to post their own selfies, proving to their families that they do come to the library to study.

I hope our fellow academic libraries will join us as we support and participate in Snapshot Day during the week of April 7th – 11th!

Snapshot Day Publicity Toolkit now available

Visit the Plan, Prepare & Promote page for the 2014 Snapshot Day Publicity Toolkit. It contains a publicity planning checklist, editable bookmark and sticker templates in English and Spanish, and more.

Note: You do need to download and save the PDF to edit the dates on the bookmarks and stickers.

Also in the Toolkit is this year’s MBLC Photo Release form. If you have patrons in your photos sign this form, the photo can be used statewide to promote Snapshot Day and libraries. Download the PDF and then you’ll be able to fill in your library name in the fields and print out as many copies as you need.

Here are some tips for getting and using the photo release form from Celeste Bruno at the MBLC:

When it comes to whether or not photo releases are needed for your Snapmass Day, the Snapmass Committee recommends using them (a copy of one is in the toolkit). But we also know that it can be a bit of a nuisance, so we’ve got some hints for working with them in a way that hopefully will feel a little less awkward. If you have tips on effectively using photo release forms, we hope you’ll share your tips, too.

  • Prominently post signs letting people know you’ll be taking photos. Signs might say something like the following:
    • “Watch for roving photographers as part of our participation in National Library Snapshot Day which helps showcase the value of our library!”
    • “We’ll be taking photos today as part of National Library Snapshot Day to help us share the importance of our library.”

    With some advanced notice, you’ll have less explaining to do and people won’t be surprised if you ask them to sign a release.
     

  • Have a non-verbal way that people can opt out of having their picture taken by offering “No Photo Please” stickers at the reference desk. Colored dots or fun stickers can be used for kids who can’t be photographed.
     
  • When possible, get photo releases signed ahead of time. This method works best with regularly schedules programming, like story times. It also works well with teens who may attend an event without their parent or guardian (minors, of course, can’t sign their own release). Again, make those “No Photo Please” stickers available.
     
  • If you’re having a large community event, set up a table with releases at the entrance and ask people to sign them as they come in. Give folks who don’t sign them, a “No Photo Please” sticker.
     
  • In an effort to “capture the moment,” you’ll sometimes snap a photo without asking a person to sign a release first. After you’ve taken the photo, ask them to sign one. If they refuse, delete the photo from your camera immediately so you don’t mistakenly upload it.
     
  • Don’t forget that most patrons are happy to help their library! Be sure to explain to them that any photos they may appear in will be used online and in print to share the importance and value of public libraries.
http://www.masslibsystem.org/snapmass/author/jkoerber/
www.masslibsystem.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2016-07
49824
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:RAGMF7FZ2VNVD3EJRFWIOPVOXYS6EHCT
<urn:uuid:b67b1222-02da-4067-b232-9fcff3d4104d>
2016-02-10T12:47:55Z
209.23.242.12
sha1:2EKKK42DKPYDHHYNARFFEADEHCTEZCOE
<urn:uuid:6c6ceb3b-1fb4-4597-b9eb-3a731bdfaac1>
http://www.masslibsystem.org/snapmass/author/jkoerber/
length
response
<urn:uuid:3b9f622a-c3c0-4e46-b9af-e70ff900b074>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2016-07
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for February 2016
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf