[Libs-Or] Pinterest summary

[Maureen Cole]

Hi everyone:
I promised that I would summarize what everyone sent to me after my query about Pinterest. Actually, this is not a summery; it is a collation, so you can see the comments in their entirety. Hey, I kind of organized the comments!

Thanks to all of you who responded and sorry I didn't write back to each of you-please don't hold it against me. Pinterest is an interesting tool, but does come with some warnings: 
-If you want to post original work, I’d be careful. Pinterest’s terms of service are something to take seriously. Two people sent me the same blog post about how agreeing to their terms allows them to use, keep, sell etc, all of your original material. Maybe, maybe not, but something to think about.
-On the other hand, I read articles from others which state that by posting an image you agree that it is yours or you have permission to repin it. Virtually everyone who is on Pinterest is therefore infringing their terms of use every time they repin something, which is entirely what it was set up for. This is why one responder recommends clicking through the images all the way to the original web site. You do need to be careful with this.

Having said that, there is a lot to be gained from using Pinterest, even if only for planning and programming ideas, as Katie Anderson points out to us. And there are many ways a library can use it. So enjoy the articles, blog posts, and Pinterest sites included below. If social media interests you (and I personally think it should interest all of us), then this is a site to follow, and at least see what develops. 

My final thought is: why didn’t a librarian invent this tool (rather than an architect)? It's really just letting people do their own cataloging (organizing) of images and naming of categories. When you think about it, so simple and something we do all day long-shelving like things together. Darn-it could've been my ticket to the big time!!

Thanks again all! Mo


Libraries with Pinterest sites

Susan Gilman, UO Portland 
We are using Pinterest here at the UO Portland Library and Learning Commons, and it seems to be quite popular with students and staff. Our library mainly serves graduate students studying architecture and design. Pinterest was actually created by an architect, so we figured it would be a great tool to try! Regarding your questions, these have been our experiences so far: 
1.)     We mainly use Facebook to promote it, every time we post something especially eye-catching to Pinterest we repost the image and link to our Facebook page. For various reasons we decided not to link the two accounts automatically. We also use good old fashioned word of mouth promotion. For example we showed it off during a presentation to incoming and returning students at the beginning of the term. 
2.)     We are getting a lot of followers, it is a mix of random people in the Pinterest universe and our own students. I have had quite a few students approach me to ask me more about it. Instructors have also been very interested in using this tool for collaboration in their classes. We currently have one instructor who is a co-contributor to one of the library’s boards, and we hope to add more next year. 
3.)     I believe it is a good investment of staff time, especially for our library. Our students are much more interested in images, beautiful ones at that. Pinterest is a great way to speak to this interest/need and remind them they have a library (a cool one that is using spiffy new social media tools). There has been a lot of concern about copyright issues, which can become a very complex topic. However I see Pinterest as an opportunity to have conversations about intellectual property rights, and provide them with good examples of how to cite images properly. It is also a great way to show a much broader user group, all those people in the Pinterest world, what libraries are doing. 
4.)     Our boards are roughly divided into three groups: news items in the library (books, DVDs, etc), architectural inspiration boards, and boards relating to classes and student work. The architectural inspiration boards are by far the most popular. People go to Pinterest to find visual inspiration, and providing students with stunning images that relate to their studies is a really effective way of getting their attention. This is coming from the context of an academic library with a small and very specific user group, so I am not sure how that would translate to other settings.  
Take a look at what we are doing, and if you are interested follow our page!  If you have any suggestions or feedback, we would love to hear it. http://pinterest.com/uopdxlibrary/

Mari Cheney, Lewis & Clark
We are not using it at the law library, but our main campus library is using it - see http://pinterest.com/watzeklibrary/

Charles Dunham, Corvallis
The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is just getting started with Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/cbcpl/). We haven’t publicized our pin boards yet, but plan to promote them via our Facebook account and blog soon. Like you, we’re attempting to come to grips with it, and we’d love to know what sort of responses you get.

Kiira Taylor, Lake Oswego
Here is our Lake Oz Pinterest page:  http://pinterest.com/biblioecstasy/ 
1.  We promote it by placing a icon/link on our library's main page (http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/), right next to our Twitter and Facebook icons.  We also have a couple of small posters in the library, and flyers patrons can take with them that feature a link to our Pinterest page. 
2.  We are getting followers: in the library world, in the great wide world beyond, and in the Portland metro area.  We gained a lot of Lake Oz pinners by following THEM first.  Once they knew we existed, they followed us.  We have not received significant feedback, though the week I pinned information about my TEN IN TEN reader's advisory service, I had messages from three patrons who wanted to participate -- that's significantly more TEN IN TEN participants than we have in a typical week.  (http://pinterest.com/pin/148829962655847347/) 
3.  The jury is out as to whether staff time is well spent 'pinning.'  I can't see many ways to track this, other than pinning links to a specific service, like TEN IN TEN.  
4.  I think our best boards are ones that tell people what we offer  in terms of materials and programs ... I particularly like our IN TODAY'S NEWS board, which features links for library materials related to current news stories. 
5.  Pinterest is a great tool for seeing other libraries' PR and priorities, finding out about new technology and other tools, and keeping track of who's doing what.

Responses including articles: 
Cheryl Hill, West Linn: (this article was also sent by Clark Kent, Eugene)
After I read the article below, I was extremely wary of starting a pinterest account for the library. We haven't had a discussion about it here one way or the other, but it's been interesting to see what other libraries have done.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/19/pinterests-terms-of-service-word-by-terrifying-word/

Colin Rea, Fern Ridge
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Pinterest_and_legal_issues_Read_this_before_you_pi_11048.aspx 

Christopher Rumbaugh, Salem 
http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/10-pinterest-boards-for-ebook-fans_b20511

Katie Anderson, State Library
Hi! Another question you may want to ask is “how can librarians and library workers use it to help their planning?” Many youth services librarians are using to collect and save programming ideas and much more, especially for planning summer reading. I’ve been talking about this with a variety of people/groups so I’ve cut and paste parts of my email exchanges with those folks that I thought may be useful to you. 
You should also be aware that there are some complex copyright issues involved with Pinterest, this recent article does a good job of breaking those issues down: http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-copyright-legal-issues/. 
The CSLP email list is all a buzz this morning because folks are using Pinterest to share summer reading craft, program, and prize ideas. Here are some examples, no password or anything needed to actually look at or click on anythng. Here's a great blog post about how libraries can use Pinterest and encourage folks to "pin" things from their library blogs, websites, etc. http://www.sotomorrowblog.com/2012/01/pinterest-for-librarians.html 
Iowa's collaborative page is a great example because the YS Consultant is inviting other librarians "pin" to this board too so it really is a bunch of people sharing ideas: http://pinterest.com/pippi/2012-dream-big-read-collaborative-boards/ 
Here are two folks using it to share summer reading books (not just kids and teen):
•	http://pinterest.com/pobox607/summer-reading/ 
•	http://pinterest.com/bluegirl79/summer-reading-list/ 
Using Pinterest with Librarians & Library Workers
>From my colleague, Dawn Krause: I know so many are starting boards on there, but the state reps in the CSLP are talking about it a bit and it would be great if we had more youth folks doing it!  You have to be a member of Pinterest, but it’s free to join if you’re not already on there.  Here are some samples:
  Texas Teens Read 2012 - http://pinterest.com/dawnkrause/texas-teens-read-2012/
  Teens in the library - http://pinterest.com/dawnkrause/teens-in-the-library/
  I did a blog post here: https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/?p=10751
YALSA has some Pinterest pages as well:
 Teen Tech Week: http://pinterest.com/sarah_ludwig/teen-tech-week-2012/ 
  YA Librarianship: http://pinterest.com/yalsa/what-does-a-ya-librarian-do/

Other comments:
Jules Filipski, SOU: 
I work with our digital collections. We have created many image-based collections with CONTENTdm software. There are several social features built in to the collections website, inlcuding a Share feature. I want to add a PinIt button (Pinterest) to the list of share options but unfortunately Pinterest does not work with the AddThis service provider that is built in to CONTENTdm. I think Pinterest has a great potential to help publicize library digital collections.

Jennifer Foster
Me too - late to the party, I think.  We haven't started using it, but I am about to propose it. Couple of thoughts: 
1. There have been articles about copyright issues, and that has kept me away for a while. But my sister DOVE in, and now I'm playing around too. My approach so far - little as I have done - is to find the original source of the item I am pinning and to give it credit in a consistent fashion. Not citation perfect, but with a link to the original site I found. Repinning, IMHO, should be done with care.
2. I want to say one of the Kristen/Kristins from our cohort has a board of library stuff, which I find delightful. And that is something I think you should strive for. I haven't yet looked at he NYPL boards, but delightful seems worth striving for...you know, one of the quotes I saw was "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries." True or not, it makes you think.
2. I want to use it to promote resources, though I haven't figured out what or how yet. It is already linked to Facebook and we have a Facebook account, so that should be easy.
3. Also, we have a blog with a little of this and little of that - occasional book reviews, database down announcements - with some creativity we ought to be able to connect that in too.
4. We could do subject-based boards in areas of study for our institutions. Beautiful examples of anthropology, or poetry, or anything. We could do a board of creative ways to get textbooks. We could do boards of sample APA, MLA etc. citations. We can do boards of events on campus and in town.
These are  just my starting thoughts. By linking to a lot of other social media, in the library and elsewhere, we get one more impression with students and faculty, and marketing is all about numbers of impressions....Hope this helps...jen