Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Social media applications are being used in outreach efforts by museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions to engage, educate, and interact with members of the community. An example of how social media has been successfully used to engage these audiences is the #ColorOurCollections campaign. Launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library (NYAML) in 2016, this weeklong social media initiative was developed to encourage institutions from around the world to share free coloring content featuring images from their collections. In 2020, The University of Alabama participated for the first time when The University of Alabama Museums (UAM) and The Fashion Archive (TFA) formed a collaborative partnership to develop a coloring book. Five research questions were developed to guide the project which resulted in the following: a digitally rendered coloring book with twenty-four illustrations available for free download via the sponsors website, a promotional video launched on the first day, 16 collection specific videos, four digitally rendered animation videos, a combined (UAM & TFA) total of 26 posts on Instagram, 61 posts on Twitter, and 46 posts on Facebook. Instagram was the most accessed social media platform for both UAM and TFA, evidenced by the total number of post likes and views, followed by Facebook, and Twitter.