Content Analysis of Libraries’ Instagram Posts: Cultural Collection, Activities, and Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Libraries’ roles and contributions in promoting and raising awareness of culture and cultural heritage to support the sustainability of cultural life can be strengthened by utilizing social media platforms, including Instagram. However, there is a gap in studies and research relating to how academic libraries reflect their cultural functions through social media, i.e., Instagram. This paper provides a content analysis of academic libraries’ Instagram accounts at three academic libraries located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. These libraries represent their universities’ concerns with promoting sustainable development goals, specifically Sustainable Development Goal 11 (make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable). This study analyzed and categorized the Instagram posts of academic libraries related to culture and cultural heritage to answer the following research question: how do academic libraries reflect their cultural functions through social media, i.e., Instagram? The results show that the academic libraries studied here considered reflecting their cultural functions through social media by informing users about various cultural events, collections, facts, and news on Instagram.