Communication of Croatian High School Libraries on Instagram

Abstract

One of the school librarian's goals is to communicate the mission, vision and role of the school library. The goal of this research is to investigate the use of Instagram for this purpose in Croatia. The research questions are: What percentage of grammar schools with a school library have a profile on Instagram compared to high schools with a school library that do not?; What is the percentage of text posts by which grammar schools and school libraries communicate the mission, vision, and role of the school library on Instagram according to the keywords book, literacy and reading?; and, What is the ratio of text posts with positive sentiments compared to those with neutral and negative sentiments to text posts on the Instagram profile of a grammar school with a school library, which communicate the mission, vision, and role of the school library? The methodology used a quantitative and sentiment method were used. There are a total of 1,249 primary and secondary school libraries in 21 counties in Croatia, and a total of 361 high schools with school libraries, of which 85 are grammar schools. Findings indicate that 55 grammar schools have Instagram profiles. In the period from the creation of these profiles on Instagram until January 31, 2024 a total of 12,312 posts were created. Sentiment analysis (positive, negative, anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, trust) showed that a total of 2738 posts contain sentiments.