Skip to main content

#library30 Photo Challenge: 2021 Edition


On Thursday April 1, 2021 I'll be inviting people to participate in this year's #library30 photo challenge

What is it?

Even though I work in a library, it's not uncommon for me (and others in the field) to look to related cultural institutions for new ideas and new perspectives. That's how #library30 happened. My wife (who works directly with museum professionals), alerted me to the #museum30 initiative that had been launched by Magnifying Zoology in 2017.

The premise was pretty simple. Participants worked from a set of daily prompts and posted pictures on social media related to the prompt along with the #museum30 hashtag. As I followed that hashtag and saw the amazing stories that were being shared, I thought, "Libraries should do that...".


How does it work?

All you have to do is upload a photo related to the daily prompt on Twitter or Instagram and include the hashtag #library30. This will allow others to easily find your post as well as those of other participants. It helps too if you also include the day of the challenge, the prompt, and even short description of why you chose that photo. A typical post might look like this:


As for the content, you're free (and encouraged) to interpret the prompts any way you like. Think of this as a chance for you to show your creativity and explore how the prompts relate to you, the community you serve and the library you love! 

 [Please note: I did consider altering this year's prompts to more specifically acknowledge the unique challenges created COVID-19. In the end decided to leave them as is. My reasoning being that this year's circumstances will doubtless come through loud and clear as people begin posting. Plus, I like the idea of consistent prompts being in place year after year in the event any future researchers want to do a longitudinal study of the #library30 hashtag :) Either way, I expect that this year's #library30 photo challenge will offer a snapshot of a very unique time for libraries and the people whose lives they touch].

When is it?

April is a special month for libraries. We celebrate National Library Week in April. We honor school libraries and librarians in April. April is National Poetry month. It also helps that there are 30 days in April! So, you guessed it, this year's #library30 photo challenge will run April 1 through April 30.

Who can participate?

Anyone who works in, volunteers for, uses, loves, supports, or otherwise finds a connection with libraries! Pretty much all of us.

Why do this?

My hope is that by participating in #library30 we'll be able to share our stories and the stories of those libraries that mean so much to us. Similarly, I believe that #library30 will offer many opportunities to connect with one another, learn from one another and inspire one another. That can only serve to make libraries even better.

To keep up with my progress on the #library30 challenge, you can follow me Twitter at @jeffrey_r and on Instagram at @jregensb

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ohio Historical Center: A Defense

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Carrie Ghose at Business First to share my thoughts on architecture in central Ohio. The recent controversy surrounding the new Student Union at Ohio State had apparently sparked a number of conversations regarding what constitutes "good" building design. Carrie was following that story , and developing a second piece to get feedback on other notable Columbus buildings. At the time I offered a staunch a defense of what I believe might be the most maligned and misunderstood building in central Ohio, the Ohio Historical Center. Business First wasn't able to run the whole piece, so I've decided to turn it into a blog post. photo courtesy of OHS/ www.ohiomemory.org The refrain is a as old as the building itself, "It's ugly. It's just a giant brown box. It doesn't even look like a museum". Sadly, it's that exact line of thinking that poses the greatest threat to the building Architectural Record referre...
7 comments
Read more

Some "Before" Pics

I noted in a previous post that we bought a house. Now that the ink has dried on our closing documents, I feel like I can share a bit more about that. While my wife and I currently live in Columbus, we've got family in the greater Akron area and had been looking to move there for a while. There were many houses we looked at, and many houses we could have bought. The one that we ultimately landed on though was 1925 almost mansion in north Akron. If I were to describe it in the parlance of real estate listings I'd say, "This spacious home in Akron's historic North Hill neighborhood boasts wood floors, radiant heat, loads of period details, a stunning ravine view, and...racoons. Two people stand in a snow covered yard in front of an older home that is overgrown with vegetation. They hold a sign between them that says "SOLD". An interior picture of an empty dining room in an older home. The room has wood floors, dated wallpaper, and wainscoting. Yeah. Racoons. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Problem With Librarian Problems

So it's come to this; a curmudgeonly blog post about the state of the profession (complete with finger wagging, tsk-tsking, and even a little SMH thrown in for good measure). "Shake your fist at 'em Pops. These kids don't know from librarianship". That's how you do it, right? Oh, the irony. I've spent 15 years in the profession deriding Will Manley and his hectoring ways. Now I've apparently become him. Point being, I'm acutely aware of all the contextual layers of this post. I know the implications and risks of saying, "Hey, that's not cool". I've been around long enough to know how easy it is to dismiss the contrarian stance; to push back against even the slightest hint of correction (Trust me, I've done it plenty of times myself). More to the point, I've been around long enough to know how easy it will be to dismiss what I'm about to write. Please don't. It's important. It's important to us individua...
8 comments
Read more