“We get a lot more people coming into the library and sharing that they’re aware of specific collections because of our TikTok account and we often hear about people watching certain videos, which is great,” says McCullough. Visitor numbers have risen to about 700 people a day, compared with 600 prepandemic. “We also have seen a lot of people come talk to us at outreach and community events, telling us that they’ve seen us on TikTok and that they follow us on the app,” says Randolph.
#Quiet book free
“We’ve had people come in because they have seen that we have a library of things, for instance, or a little free pantry and they want to donate to that,” she says.
She and her colleagues worked to create the library’s personality on the app and quickly found it was a useful tool for reaching all demographics of library users – and they continue to observe the videos drawing people into the physical space. There weren’t a lot of others on TikTok that we could bring forward to be like, ‘Hey, this is what everyone else is doing.’ But we were really lucky to have a director who was supportive of it.” “There was a little bit of weariness because we were one of the first libraries to start an account. Randolph launched GPPL’s account in December, 2020, as a way to reach the library’s teen audience during the first year of the pandemic. “It’s an unexpected voice – they haven’t really shown up like this before – and the libraries that are jumping on it now are seeing success because it’s early days.”
They’re approaching it from a place of creativity and authenticity to their brands and their local communities,” says Lina Renzina, lifestyle and education media partnerships lead at the app. “Libraries are using TikTok in the right way. Librarians are harnessing the app to redefine what the library represents, and in the process, finding new audiences in their immediate communities and developing fan bases far outside city borders. The unpredictability of TikTok’s algorithm and its content environment – charmingly unpolished, fun and educational – fit the diverse services libraries offer unlike any other social-media channel. Randolph, and her colleague Hailey McCullough, head of adult services, have used the account to spread the word about the library’s donation-driven food pantry and its role in serving the city’s unhoused population, among other endeavours. “We have found that it’s a really great way to break down stereotypes of what libraries are versus what they used to be, and show the services that we have and show that we are a safe space,” says Bailey Randolph, head of children’s services at GPPL. Not bad for a one-branch library system in a small northern Alberta city.
#Quiet book how to
Now, it’s a model of how to harness the power of this particular social channel to entertain and educate viewers – whether they be patrons or not. As of this writing, the library, one of the first in the country to launch on TikTok, has 26,100 followers, with videos reaching more than half a million likes. It’s also one of the hundreds of videos the staff at GPPL have posted on the library’s TikTok account.
It’s cute and fun, and might surprise some viewers who don’t know that a library can offer access to much more than books.
#Quiet book series
If you’ve ever watched Parks and Recreation, you’ll remember Tom and Donna explaining their Treat Yo Self Day – “the best day of the year!” In a series of TikTok videos filmed against the show’s original audio, including one from Alberta’s Grande Prairie Public Library, librarians replace the characters’ indulgences – clothes, fragrances, massages, mimosas, fine leather goods – with their own, which are conveniently found at the local library: video games, Chromebooks, puzzles, anime and manga, toys. There’s nothing more cringe than someone trying to describe a meme, but here goes.
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