Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations.

Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations.


Hurstville library thankfully, is far closer to me in geographic terms than is Kogarah, and Hurstville Library, Museum and Gallery have to a much greater degree, embraced 2.0 technologies and social media wholeheartedly.
Firstly they have their own interactive links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Flickr. 
Secondly, they have a very interesting blog section on their website which hosts many fascinating feeds. Many of the blog posts focus on local community information, predominantly about the world of Arts. 

Information/Reference.


On the Hurstville LMG Facebook feed, there is a myriad of information available pertaining to the library,  as well as community events. At present there is information about  the 2014 Platform Urban Art Prize, which has an upcoming opening, the St George Art Awards exhibition, which is currently housed in the Hurstville Museum, and several events focused on local youth culture such as International Games Day on Saturday 15th November. Local youth spent hours jazzing up some of the library windows  using post-it notes in honour of the recently held games day. This is traditionally an event that everyone loves, especially the young and "young at heart" (haha) , and it seemingly grows in popularity every year.
Because Hurstville Library merged with the Museum and Gallery back in 2009, social  media provides the perfect platform for plenty of cross-promotion for each of these council utilities. Much of this promotion comes via the Facebook feed, but the library also utilises their Twitter page to publicise past, present and future events,
many of which foster strong ties with both the council and
the Hurstville community at large.


Teenage/Youth.

Most of the social media feeds from Hurstville LMG are tailored to appeal to the local youth.
Their Twitter link is a little similar to the Facebook feed, but there is plenty of encouragement for young people to be involved with one another.
The Show us your #bookface! campaign, they have strongly embraced via the live blog, and even more so on twitter and Facebook. The community relishes the opportunity to quietly compete with one another, the healthy rivalry creating a bond almost automatically.
When you see these types of feeds, it makes you realise just how much libraries without social media links miss out on.
There were also feeds from flickr, pinterest and several others.
This short, poignant style of engagement, far better appeals to younger people, who are often trying to juggle multiple roles within their lives for much of the time and consider their time very precious.

The freegal music resource is available for all members, but I'm sure that the popular demographic for users would be slanted to the 16-25 yo age bracket. Once logged in, you can search  the music catalogue for over 7 million songs from 28,000 labels, and then have the choice of downloading something. Or just sit back and enjoy several hours per week of free streaming, where you are able to listen to whole music albums in a single session, or watch the most up-to-date music videos, whatever your preference may be. 

With the alignment of the Museum and Art Gallery, the organisation ensures a focus on supporting, exhibiting and promoting the most talented young people that the local area has to offer. The St George area Art Awards have been running for the past few months and will continue through until almost the end of the year. Much of the cutting edge material entered, has been shown within the walls of the historic Museum and Art Gallery along with other unique exhibits, exciting and enchanting the local audience that come to see it. These and other youth-focused activities are constantly promoted interactively on the Facebook and twitter feeds.  



Children's.

The library has a host of interactive resources for the kids, but the majority of them are 
conducted in-house. They run many of these programs in conjunction with the Hurstville Museum and Gallery once again.
They have the usual reading clubs, kid's programmes, art workshops and book clubs, as well as on-line tutoring resources, much the same as you would expect to find in most council-run libraries.

ONLINE TUTORING

 

If you’re struggling with homework or assignment tasks, help is close at hand.

Your Tutor is a free online tutoring service for students from Year 4 through to Year 12. Subjects covered include Maths, English, Science (including Physics and Chemistry), Business Studies, Economics, Commerce, Study Skills and Assignment Research.

Your Tutor connects students with expert tutors for live learning sessions via the internet. Online tutoring is available Monday – Friday, from 4 pm-8 pm. Just login using your library card’s barcode.

They also have gaming sessions, once a week, for the 12 years and above.
The most interesting link they provide in their children's resources is to the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards Inc.(koala NSW) site, which provides further feeds to Facebook, Twitter and to their very own blog. 
This link is another example of Hurstville LMG's commitment to nurture local youth, understanding that the upcoming generations are the future lifeblood of any local library.
There is still evident, a resistance to recognising the potential for providing more 2.0 social media links to kid's resources on the most part, but I believe we will see this evolving in the near future.
There is still some way to go in most Australian libraries to catch up with the 2.0 technologies used in the US and parts of Europe, but this is mostly due to the difference in population. However,  libraries like Hurstville LMG are constantly making huge strides towards relative parity.