For a class assignment, I was asked to evaluate a social media account for a library. I decided to evaluate the Instagram page of Hartwick College’s Stevens-German Library, the library for the college where I received my B.A.
In my opinion, the library’s Instagram page seems very solid and promising. However, the frequency of its posts seems quite irregular. Over the summer of 2023 it only made one post, and continued to remain dormant through the first month of the fall semester, only beginning to post frequently in the middle of September; then, the page appears dormant for two weeks before their latest post was made on October 12. In my opinion I feel this page should make around 2-3 posts a week, showcasing special books, events, or notices, as it seems to be doing, but not enough. For example, I believe midterms passed recently at Hartwick, yet I do not see any post from this page indicating any change in library hours so students know they can stay there to study for midterm exams.
Hartwick is a small school of around 1,500 students. The page has around 159 followers, or, approximately 1/10th of the total student body. In my opinion, this number is not too few; Queens College, a school of 20,000 students, also has an Instagram page for its library, which has about 1,000 followers, or 1/20th of the student body. Furthermore, the page follows 46 other pages, primarily of other libraries, student organizations, and Hartwick staff, all of which, in my opinion, are good pages for the library to follow.
The page posts only photos, with no videos at all. For a small college with a relatively low budget, this makes sense, and I do not see how videos would add much to the page, or what the content of the videos could be. In terms of connecting with its student patrons, the library did recently make posts promoting Latino and Latina writers in honor of Latinx Heritage Month, a great way to connect with its Latino and Latina students, as well as other students who are curious to learn about the Latin American experience. Its page does not appear to be tagged by other pages affiliated with Hartwick; Perhaps if Hartwick’s official page tagged the library’s page to promote it, it might gain more followers.
All in all I believe that this is a solid academic library page for the college it serves. If any changes were needed, I would recommend perhaps posting much more frequently, and perhaps cooperating more with Hartwick’s management and student clubs in order to post more engaging content in order to connect more with Hartwick’s student body.
