When asked to look into online content curation, I turned to a platform I am familiar with- Pinterest. I have used this online space as a source of inspiration many times and decided to look at how the State Library of Victoria might be using it.

I was excited to see what interesting tidbits and book recommendations I might find… and then disappointed to see that there was nothing. Their only presence on Pinterest is on boards hosted by fans of libraries.

So, I decided to go big or go home and searched for the New York Public Library  (NYPL), and boy howdy, do they know how to use Pinterest to their advantage!

Apart from having a direct link to their website and 3.2 million followers, they have 30 boards about a variety of topics. My favourite board is titled #ireadeverywhere which contains pictures of (yep) people reading everywhere. The hashtag prompted me to check for an Instagram account and was happy to see that I can start following them there as well.

Alongside the many boards promoting reading and new books, there are several boards dedicated to showcasing the images from the NYPL digital gallery and examples of film and art that use libraries as a backdrop to help tell a story.

NYPL also use this platform to inform patrons about upcoming events, to promote libraries and reading, and to showcase teaching resources.

In this example, I could see the potential of websites like Pinterest to showcase and promote libraries.