A Continued Tumble Through Tumblr

Over the past couple of weeks, I, along with Lisa (@nobleknits2) and Diana (@MZMollyTL), have been undergoing an inquiry concerning Tumblr. In my first blog about this all I had done was browse through Tumblr to try to get some ideas about if and how Tumblr could be useful in ensuring student success. After browsing the site on our own, Lisa, Diana and I each blogged about our experience. This was a really great learning experience for me. I had been exploring Tumblr from a personal perspective and how it could help me, and reading both Lisa and Diana's blogs helped me to see it from other perspectives.

Reading Lisa's blog made me think about who was using Tumblr. In her words,  "it quickly became clear to me that the kids who really loved Tumblr were my visual kids – the ones who are always sketching or doing something creative with their photos – but also some of my storytellers."  What a great insight. I hadn't thought about which students would most benefit from Tumblr, but it is a key questions, and having thought about it, I started thinking of it as another tool that could engage students in the library.The interactivity of Tumblr is a great way to encourage communication in the library. So often, communication is a one way street, but for students to be engaged, they need to feel that their voices are actually being heard, and being able to respond to Tumblr posts is one way for students to let the library staff know what the students both want and need.

Diana's thoughtful blog about her process helped me to consider my process and how I learn best. I especially liked her comment about diving right in.

• By being reluctant to dive in thoroughly and join Tumblr, I denied myself some ways of knowing it that just browsing cannot provide. I'd dismiss a gaming expert who had never played a video game before (and there are people out there like that) and the same principle applies to me - I should've tried it directly, even if it meant deleting my account after a week.

My next step is to dive right in. It's time to decide how to use Tumblr. I already have Pinterest, and Twitter and this blog, so what is the purpose of Tumblr? Why do I need it? How will it help my students? Where to go next?

Encouraging Each Other

A couple of weeks ago I was on Twitter when @MzMollyTL asked a question about Tumblr. I responded, as did @nobleknits2 and before I knew it, we were agreeing to a mini PLN to discover the world of Tumblr which was new to all of us. I am so glad that I had these wonderful ladies with me to keep me going. I must admit, there were times when I just wanted to say "I don't get it" and walk away. I really understand how the students feel.

Every time I felt like that, though, something would come across my feed from either Diana or Lisa and I would be inspired again. The term Tumblr sherpa is now a part of my vocabulary. When I first logged into Tumblr I was quickly overwhelmed, and it was not a feeling I was comfortable with. I wanted to give up and say that Tumblr was not for me. I knew that it was a popular platform with my students, but I couldn't seem to navigate it; I was completely lost. Tumblr itself offered suggestions of blogs I might want to follow, but none of them really seemed to be what I was looking for. I tried searching for topics like "education", but still, nothing really seemed to fit.

It was at about this point that I totally went down the rabbit hole and discovered that there was an entire blog dedicated to animals riding on capybaras. Who knew that there are over one hundred pictures of animals riding on capybaras. I knew at this point that I needed to focus on something very particular or else this learning process was doomed to failure.  I reached out to my friends on Facebook to ask them who used Tumblr and how they used it, and the responses were quite interesting. Most of my friends who used Tumblr were using it to keep up with television and movies - was Tumblr the new Twitter for entertainment news? While I found that interesting, I was still struggling to understand how it could be used in a library or educational setting.

As I continued browing, I did discover a couple of blogs relating to YA literature and hope was restored. Here was something that I could actually use.The visual appeal of Tumbr, and the short length of most posts, make it very attractive to teenage users, and this is an important discovery to keep up with. If I, as a librarian, want to attract teenage users, I have to understand what appeals to them, and the format of Tumblr, although it is difficult for me to understand, really seems to speak to them.

I began browsing Tumbr a little more and finding things here and there that were interesting. I was not at the point of jumping in and starting my own Tumblr. Then, Lisa jumped in again - this time from Goodreads when she asked if a book I had just finished would make a good Tumblr - and it hit me. Tumblr would be a great platform to review books for a high school library.

I still have a long way to go before I really understand Tumblr, but with the encouragement of both Diana and Lisa, I can finally see its potential. I am now looking forward to seeing how I can incorporate this new learning, and what I learned about HOW I learned, into my life as a librarian.