When Social Media is Positive

The best part of being Social Media Librarian for the Mercer County Library System is knowing that every day I go to work, I’m going to be posting something positive about the great things going on in our community. In a world where so much of social media is filled with negativity and rancor this is, seemingly, a comparatively rare pleasure. When people ask me what I like best about my job I say: Showing all the good things people are doing in Mercer County.

Our social media is not merely a promotion of the library. It’s a demonstration of what you – the patrons and employees of the MCLS - are doing to connect with each other. It’s a chance to show our youngest patrons taking their first steps into a wider world of dreams, what books and activities at the library can bring. It’s a chance to show their parents this as they look on with pride and remember their own fond memories of libraries of the past. Or, maybe, if they’re lucky, their memories of the same MCLS library they used to visit when they were a child.

We’re here purely to serve the public. That’s the only reason. And it’s important for patrons to know that without them – without you – there would be no reason for us. So, when I come to work, I know that I’ll be able to show the wonderful things that you bring to the library and the connection you make with what librarians and others are doing as well.

Social Media here also doesn’t work without the librarians and other staff members who put on programs – and who take the photos and videos that commemorate both the important things and the silly things that we and the patrons and presenters do together. Sometimes, in a world replete with a gaping maw of content hungry social media, it is easy to forget that we’re all in this together.

Ultimately, the pleasure for all of us is in knowing that whenever you come to the MCLS social media platforms – be it Facebook, Instagram, X or others - that you and your family are going to see something positive, something that reflects the community and something that reflects the joy in the engagement that all of us here feel in connecting with the entire community.

Thank you to all the staff members and patrons who enable us to put something positive into the world each day. In this social media landscape, every bit of positive energy makes the world a better place and, together, all of us are part of that. See you at the library!

- by Chip, Hopewell Branch