5minlib's Best Posts of 2018

As we say goodbye to 2018, we thought we'd highlight our top posts for the year!

100 Reasons Libraries are Better than Amazon
This guest post was originally posted on Twitter by @DrunkestLibrary. With permission, we shared his response to Forbes op-ed piece that was titled, "Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money.”

Literary Holidays to Celebrate All Year Long - 2018
Every year, Kat shares a post of all the literary holidays for the upcoming year. It is a fan favorite and she'll be posting an update next Friday for 2019!

Easy Staff Picks Displays
We know you don't have a lot of time in your busy library. So, Kat created and shared these awesome signs for Staff Picks to post around your library. Free printables!

14 Ways Libraries Can Help Immigrant Children and Families
The news and actions around immigration to the US is heart breaking right now. If you find yourself wanting to do something, but not sure what, here are a few suggestions.

Star Wars Day: 6 Ways the Library Strikes Back
A post to share with patrons about the different ways they can celebrate Star Wars Day at libraries.

10 Insider Secrets Librarians Only Tell Their Friends With Kids
The library is the perfect place for people to bring their kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews. Not only do we have oodles of books, but you can do so much more. Jess lists 10 things that only library insiders know (which librarians would share with anyone... who is willing to listen).

8 Creative Book Club Ideas
Everyone loves a book club, but sometimes even the most well-attended group can start to feel stale. Kat looked into some different ways to revive, or start an entirely new club, and have compiled a list of ideas for you.

Delicious Library Programs
What better way to integrate good books and good food than to do a library cooking program? Kat has compiled a list of ideas in which cooking can enhance your library.

Hate in the Library: Voices of Opposition
We collected voices of opposition about ALA's Library Bill of Rights specifically including Hate Groups as being allowed to use library meeting rooms. We are very happy to report that the bill has since been revised and improved, but we don't think that would have happened without people like them who spoke up. Thank you to everyone who did.

5minlib Recommends: Super Library Marketing
There are so many different ways to advertise, so many different formats to use, and too little hours in the day to get it all done. Thankfully, there's the Super Library Marketing blog to help you sort it all out!

2002: When Hate Came to the Library Meeting Rooms
This was a guest post by Lena Gluck. She had shared on Twitter a chilling history lesson: back in 2002, white supremacist Matt Hale, did indeed travel around the US and used library meeting rooms to hold his meetings. It is a story about the trauma and terror his free speech has caused to these communities. And it could very well happen again today if we're not careful.

Summer Reading by the Book Covers
Kat shares her Summer Reading experience through book covers.

4 Ideas for September's Library Sign-Up Month
Looking for fresh ideas for September's Library Sign-Up Month? Jess curated four for you that were shared on Facebook.

Ready to Go Book Display: Libraries Rock! Fiction
and Ready to Go Book Display: Libraries Rock! Nonfiction
Every year, Allie creates two book lists based on the CSLP Summer Reading theme. It was a huge hit with our readers!

Ready to Go Book Display: Dogs
Change up your book display with books carefully selected by Allie about man's best friend.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Like this article? Check out our best posts from 2017,  2016 and 2015!

5minlib's Best Posts of 2017

As we say goodbye to 2017, we thought we'd highlight our top posts for the year!

Literary Holidays to Celebrate All Year Long
A year ago, Kat created a list of literary holidays for 2017. This was by far our best post and Kat will be making a new one for 2018! Stay tuned.

3 Quick Banned Books Week Ideas
Kat shares easy ideas and free printables for the busy librarian to participate in Banned Books Week.

5 Myths of Facebook that Libraries Should Know
Jess highlights five misunderstandings libraries have about Facebook and how to use these truths to your advantage. Links are provided to outside sources for more information.

18 Excellent Podcasts for Librarians
What better way to stay on top of library news and build up your RA toolbox than listening to podcasts while you work?

Summer Reading Scratchies - Some New Ideas
A new twist on the scratch tickets, Kat shares her take with scratchies.

5 Ways to Stay Passionate Working in Libraries
It is easy to get burned out while working in libraries, so Jess covers five different ways to keep the passion alive.

9 Vital Ways Facebook is the Best Partner for Libraries

Jess argues that Facebook is the best place on social media for libraries to be and she has nine reasons why.

Holiday Craft Ideas for All Ages
Kat shares lots of different ideas for holiday crafts. Get a head start on 2018 craft planning!

8 Lessons Learned from the 2017 Eclipse
No one knew what to expect from the 2017 Eclipse. Jess compiles multiple experiences in a guide for the next eclipse.

The Ultimate List of Nontraditional Items You Can Check Out From Libraries
What are libraries circulating besides books, music, and movies? Jess created the ultimate list, linking to at least one library for each item.

7 Useful RA Websites
Where do you go for RA help? Jess shares a list of seven websites to get you started.

Why I Play My Ukulele At Storytime
Kat talks about her love for the Ukelele, how to get started, and why it is awesome for storytime.

Ready to Go Display: Read Dessert First
Every month, Allie publishes a "Ready to Go Display" for all age groups. The best one from this year was on desserts!

5 Easy Tips to Organize Your Library Life with Trello
Feeling disorganized? Think that you can structure your day better and save some time? Jess shares how she uses Trello to stay on top of it all.

Presidential Budget Cuts, and How They Could Impact Libraries
Kat investigated how the proposed Presidential Budget Cuts could impact libraries. Thankfully, that did not happen!

My Life on a YALSA Committee
Ever wondered what it is like to be part of a library association committee? Or how they decide on which books win awards? Allie shares all in this article!

Ready to Go Book Display: Twins
Need a new topic for your display? Our second popular list created by Allie was on twins!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Like this article? Check out our best posts from 2016 and 2015!

Year Two in Review: The Best of the Best Posts

Happy two years, 5 Minute Librarian readers!

What an adventure these two years have been! It has been our pleasure to write for you and we learned so much along the way. Our greatest achievement this year was the spin-off blog, Spoilers, Sweetie, which we couldn't have done without so many librarians volunteering their time! But that isn't all that we covered. We are excited to share below a list of our top posts since last August!

10 Insider Secrets Librarians Only Tell Their Friends

Our most popular post yet with over 18,000 views! Who knew that librarians were holding so much back from their patrons? ;-)

31 Days of Instagram Challenge

Our most exciting post with over 200 libraries participating on Instagram. Just check out the #5minlibchallenge in Instagram to see what everyone did! We can't wait to reveal our next 31 Days Challenge next month! (To see some of our favorite IG images, check out this post: http://www.5minlib.com/2015/11/20-favorite-pics-from-ig-challenge.html)

What You Can Do to Combat Librarian Burnout

Burnout is very real, folks, most especially in this profession. Kat shares some tips that helps her keep burnout at bay.

Top Ways to Advertise Your Library Programs - Part 1

You have an awesome program, now how to do you get the word out to your patrons?

Canva for Work - Free for Libraries!

We love Canva! We love free! If you make flyers/promotional materials for your library, you need to check out this post.

8 Simple Photography Tricks Every Librarian Should Know

Jess shares some tips from a real photographer that'll up your photography game in little time!

Top 15 IFTTT Recipes to Save You Time

Because we all could use more time in the day!

Disruptive Teen Patrons: 7 Strategies to Regain Order, Authority, and Your Sanity

Tips that should be useful when working with teens, or any disruptive patron!

The Ultimate Book Awards Calendar

More awards than you ever knew about, divided by age (Adult, Teen, and Children) as well as by month. Handy!

Copyright in Social Media: Guidelines for a Messy Virtual World

Is it okay to repost that comic on Facebook? Kat dives in deep in the world of copyright for social media.

Introducing Spoilers, Sweetie!

Our proudest moment! We started a spin-off blog to help you "read" more award winning books, especially the ones you aren't interested in but should know about.

Patrons Under the Influence of Drugs: What Libraries Can Do About It

There's a big opioid epidemic here in the United States. Be educated and prepared, in case anything happens in your library. With 78 people dying from overdoses every day, the question isn't "if" but "when".

Spotlight on Diversity: Are Your Library Shelves White-Washed?

A list of ways to make sure your collection is diverse.

Ready to Go Book Display: LGBT Pride Month

Allie created a stellar list of LGBT titles for your displays!

Ready to Go Book Display: Star Wars Reads Day

Star Wars Day is an annual event. Be ready for next year's display with these great titles!

Ready to Go Display: We Need Diverse Books

Are you looking for great books to bring diversity to your shelves? Check out this list of titles!


Thank you for following us, commenting, and sharing our content. If there is anything you'd love us to write more about, please let us know in the comments or on Twitter @5minlib.  Here's to another great year!

-Jess, Kat, and Allie

21 Awesome Instagram Accounts for Reposting!

If you are participating in the Instagram Challenge, you'll see that on Day 20, we suggest that you follow bookish Instagram accounts and repost one on your account. We recommend this because there just isn't enough time in the day for busy librarians to keep up with Instagram accounts.

But there's good news -- we're not the only ones who love books and want to post about them. And there are many other people who have the time, the budget, the props, and the expertise to post fantastic Instagram images. Images that are perfect for libraries to repost (and, of course, tag back to the original account!).

So, to help you get started with Day 20's challenge, here's a list of 21 accounts that you may want to follow and repost*. :)

Publishers

The first accounts I'd highly recommend following are publishers. They have great content from beautiful book covers (all of them are quality pictures because they want to sell the book!) to author spotlights to fun bookish quotes. Bonus -- learn about new books coming out that you can order for your collection!

https://instagram.com/harpercollinsus/
https://instagram.com/gallerybooks/
https://instagram.com/penguinrandomhouse/
https://instagram.com/penguinusa/
https://instagram.com/scholasticinc/
https://instagram.com/simonandschuster/
https://instagram.com/simonbooks/

Book Stores

Book stores are also great accounts to follow. The following ones below have quality pictures and many images that libraries can repost and tag back. Bonus points when they have an author visit and take a photo of them holding onto their book!

https://instagram.com/barnesandnoble/
https://instagram.com/powellsbooks/
https://instagram.com/strandbookstore/

Book Websites / Accounts

And there are some really awesome book websites (or even just unique Instagram accounts) that are fun to follow and highlight at times on your own account.

https://instagram.com/bookexpoamerica/
https://instagram.com/bookporn/
https://instagram.com/bookquotes/
https://instagram.com/bookriot/
https://instagram.com/subwaybookreview/
https://instagram.com/thebookcon/
https://instagram.com/weneeddiversebooks/

Bonus: YA Lit

Since I'm a Teen Librarian, I thought I'd share a few other YA Lit accounts that I really enjoyed. Any library can use them, too, since YA Lit is the hottest genre at the moment... Though, my opinion might be slightly biased.
https://instagram.com/epicreads/

https://instagram.com/fiercereads/
https://instagram.com/simonteen/
https://instagram.com/thisisteen/

And these two accounts, just because WOW. If you can find a way to share an image on your account, it'll be a follower favorite!:
 https://instagram.com/samsofy.s/ and https://instagram.com/muradosmann/

* Note: Instagram does not have a feature that allows you to repost images. However, Iconosquare, Websta and other 3rd party apps will allow you to do this. Basically, these apps download the image with credit to the author and emails it to you to later upload. I do NOT recommend using any apps that doesn't place credit directly on the photo. (And don't forget to @username the original person so your followers can easily find them.)

Year One in Review: The Best of the Best Blog Posts

Happy One Year, 5MinLib readers! What an amazing year, as we look back at all of the content we created for your education and entertainment. We thought today we'd take a moment and create a list of our most popular posts, in case you've missed them:

From ALA to Zuckerberg: Librarian Facebook Groups
By far, this has been our most popular post. We had no idea how viral this one would become, but Jess knew that she loved connecting with other librarians on Facebook. It was a daunting task to hunt for different kinds of Public Librarian Facebook Groups, but with an 8K+ reach since it's posting last February, it has gotten a lot of attention.

Why Your Library Needs A Mascot
Kat wrote this masterpiece highlighting the different types of mascots and how to utilize them to their full potential.

15 Viral Content Ideas for Your Library's FB Page!
Inspired from the Facebook Group The Shareable Clique, this post clearly states different ways to engage library patrons that has been successful for other libraries.

50+ Ideas for Summer Reading Swag That Will Make Your Patrons Dance
No one was wanting for Summer Reading ideas after Kat put together this fabulous list of prizes that have worked well in other libraries.

17 Ways to Accomplish Summer Reading
Who knew there were so many different ways to run a Summer Reading Program? We didn't, but Jess asked and compiled the answers.

ARCs: Advanced Reading Copies
Want an advanced reading copy? Well, we learned the secret handshake and we'll teach it to you, too! Come join this exclusive society.

6 Hot Tips for Creating Topnotch Shelf Readers
Jess shares her tips and tricks for running an efficient shelf reader program. Includes templates, a shelf reader test, and more!

Why I Love NoveList, And You Should, Too: Part One
Kat wrote a three part series about how to use NoveList and all of its great features to power up your librarian tricks.

10 Facebook Tips Patrons Wish Their Libraries Knew
Jess investigates what makes a successful Library Facebook Page.

Ready to Go Book Display: Everyday Heroes
Allie's most popular Ready to Go Book Display! It was perfect for this year's theme and, really, a great list of books to add to your every day collections.

Thank you for being our readers! Here's to another great year!
-Jess, Kat, and Allie