Virtual Communities Resource Center

Tumblr may be one of the most popular, but least usable social media websites for libraries. The biggest stumbling block may be that Tumblr doesn't allow any way for users to filter out adult content. Their stance is pretty firmly that it's a users own responsibility to not follow other Tumblr users who share adult content.

The primary issue here is that because Tumblr doesn't offer any kind of screening, and instead relies on users to find that adult content so they can then avoid it, users may choose to avoid the site entirely. This means an increasingly reduced audience on Tumblr, which means a reduced audience for libraries.

Should libraries decide to use it, the one big benefit it would give is that it provides the same kind of browse-ability as Pinterest, but with the inclusion of dynamic media. Pictures and articles are just the start of what you can share - Tumblr-weilding librarians could also share videos, quotes, and gifs. This is one aspect which I can say I do prefer for Tumblr over Pinterest. I can see this being nice for libraries who want to connect with younger generations - a mixture of motivational quotes, educational videos, and funny gifs

Tumblr would also allow libraries to consolidate social media accounts. Instead of using Twitter to share thoughts and ideas and Pinterest to share events or projects, Tumblr could house all of those at once. If librarians are seeking to only manage one or two social media accounts, Tumblr would allow them more versatility with their account.

My own account.

I had a less-than-stellar time setting up my Tumblr account. From the desktop, there are many popups which act as inspiration or direction for starting your new life as a Tumblr user. Instead of being helpful, they were just obnoxious, and I found myself leaving the site multiple times because the number of popups were so obnoxious.

Once I got my account established and started looking for content, I had a hard time finding much in the way of library-managed blogs. My local library (Durham County) had a “teen section” blog, although it looks like it's dead - no new posts in over a year.

The NYPL has a Tumblr account, which makes sense as their such a large institution. They seem to primarily use their account for book recommendations, though there were also a few posts of prints or art pieces, encouraging other Tumblr users to come up with tags, alternative titles, or subtitles. I do like this, as it encourages the Tumblr community to engage with the library and share its content.

Finally, I found a Tumblr blog that was entirely dedicated to the library hiring process - it was the only account on Tumblr that I found any really good use for. Their posts consist of articles about the hiring process as well as anonymous questions and interviews with librarians who handle the hiring process for their library.

While I found very little use for using it myself, I did see some areas where there was value. For me, I think most of that is reduced to entertainment - while posts from the NYPL and the hiring librarians Tumblr accounts both had valuable information, it was fairly scarce. They were also the kinds of information that I already receive in formats I prefer - namely my Google News Feed and Facebook.

Click here to return to the Virtual Communities Resource Center page