蜜柚直播

In fact, you might even call Harry Potter her teacher.

Bunker, a devoted fan of the fantasy book series, had a growing interest in hand coding and graphic design when she discovered the online community of Potter fans.

In a 鈥渇andom鈥� with a heavy teen presence, Bunker, now 55, watched 鈥測ounger people online who were making it up as they went along,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey would do anything that would delight the fandom. They were willing to experiment, and it taught me to be somewhat fearless with trying new technologies.鈥�

A librarian (and double for Hufflepuff鈥檚 Professor Pomona Sprout), Bunker finds that spirit of exploration handy, as her workplace grapples with the role of the library in a modern community.

No longer just a place to find books, discs or magazines, the library now deals online and in person, positioning itself as a gathering place for community creativity.

鈥淲hen I think of libraries, you know, I have somewhat the same reaction as when I go into Home Depot or Michaels,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 walking into a place that is full of possibilities, and to some extent the possibilities are what is changing.鈥�

Rather than just offer physical media to consume, the library can increasingly drive innovation by hosting community forums or teaching professional skills, she says.

鈥淲e will always have books,鈥� she adds. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what they say ... I鈥檓 sorry, they are not going away. But some of the things that we are doing are really exciting.鈥�

Bunker believes the digital age can be a golden one for libraries 鈥� and if she has anything to say about it, it will be.

So, what exactly is a social media librarian?

Bunker primarily runs the Idea+Space and main library system Facebook accounts, while overseeing pages for other branches and programs such as the Seed Library and Bookbike.

The library also has a handful of Twitter handles and a presence on social media sites such as Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram. Bunker鈥檚 is the library鈥檚 prominent voice.

鈥淵ou see her on those accounts,鈥� says Jen Maney, a library service manager and Bunker鈥檚 boss. 鈥淥ne of her big training points for everyone doing social media for the library is using your own voice. If you show interest, you鈥檙e bound to trigger interest.鈥�

Bunker learned in the digital wizarding world 鈥� where debates raged about characters鈥� romantic relationships 鈥� that promoting online community also means accepting critical comments on a public platform.

鈥淲e have freedom to create community and that may mean posting things just because they are funny, or posting things just because they are beautiful, or because you know people who love books would love seeing it,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here are an increasing number of cardholders who don鈥檛 come into our buildings anymore ... and we need to figure out how to have warm relationships with them the way we do at the desk.鈥�

Bunker also runs the library鈥檚 monthly Catalyst Caf茅, which she started after attending South by Southwest鈥檚 Interactive technology conference several years ago. As a way to inspire would-be entrepreneurs, nonprofits and even neighborhoods, Catalyst Caf茅 recruits local speakers to talk about technology and business. Think, Pinterest, crowdfunding and freelancing, for example.

鈥淪he saw that startup companies and entrepreneurs and makers needed some venues and guidance that they couldn鈥檛 find elsewhere, and the library was the perfect place to do that,鈥� says Lupita Chavez, a friend of Bunker鈥檚 and a library technical associate supervisor at the Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr. Library.

The Joel D. Valdez Main Library hosts the workshops in its Idea+Space, a meeting room created to be a hub for businesses, job-seekers and nonprofits. Bunker helped the library win a $65,000 grant funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the space, which opened in October.

鈥淟isa is one of those connectors ...鈥� Maney says. 鈥淪he sees how to put people together in a way that will make us all stronger.鈥�

What鈥檚 with this Harry Potter thing?

When the first 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� book came out, Bunker was working as a library assistant at Sunrise Drive Elementary School.

鈥淚 had been in libraries a long time, and I had never had my desk at the library three-deep with boys,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was amazing and kind of breathtaking for a librarian to see a book that had that kind of power for kids.鈥�

About 2004, she discovered another enchanting world 鈥� online fan communities.

The main activity at the time was speculating about how the series would end for Harry and friends and, with a master鈥檚 degree in library science from the University of 蜜柚直播, Bunker was well-equipped to decode clues scattered throughout the other books. Unlike the teen fans who only knew to Google search, she could look up iconography, find runes in an encyclopedia or research name etymology. She also found a niche indexing J.K. Rowling interviews online by character and theme, drawing the attention of major fan sites.

In 蜜柚直播, she pulled together Potter-themed parties at the libraries, organizing a costumed cast and inviting library-goers to spend a day at Hogwarts.

鈥淭he idea was to make it as immersive as possible and really create something where they weren鈥檛 just coming to listen to music, but they had venues of being creative themselves,鈥� she says of the events, which often corresponded with a 蜜柚直播 show by the band Harry and the Potters. 鈥淲e had a real quill and paper and ink so kids could us a real quill, and Snape went around handing out detention notices for goofy infractions. It was just wonderful, geeky fun.鈥�

Bunker also worked with three other Potter devotees to put together a print version of the online fan encyclopedia, 鈥淭he Harry Potter Lexicon.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 in my own library catalog, which is a kick,鈥� she says of 鈥淭he Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials.鈥�

But it wasn鈥檛 all magic.

In 2007, Rowling and Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit against the small, Michigan-based publisher of the encyclopedia, citing copyright infringement. The publisher lost the case, but Steve Vander Ark, the book鈥檚 primary writer, was able to change the book to meet the court鈥檚 fair use requirements.

But the deed was done 鈥� the Harry Potter fandom expelled Bunker and the others from their community. She suddenly had more time on her hands.

鈥淲hen the library said, 鈥榃e have these social media accounts, but we鈥檙e not using them to the best extent we can,鈥� Bunker, who was working full-time for the county system and 鈥渙n loan鈥� to the 蜜柚直播 Museum of Art, decided to try her wand at it.

鈥淎t our age, people have become settled in what they鈥檙e doing,鈥� says Brenda Huettner, a technical communicator and owner of consulting company P-N Designs Inc. 鈥淟isa is excited and enthusiastic that there is a new process and technique and tool and gadget. She is right out there trying to understand and see how it can be useful to the community.鈥�

What about spare time?

Bunker鈥檚 rose garden 鈥� with about 45 varieties of roses, some historic 鈥� is where she gets away from the digital world. Life as a social media librarian means she never fully escapes. Notifications silently stack up on her phone, vying for her attention.

鈥淢y husband likes me to talk to him, and my dog likes walks,鈥� she says, laughing about her work-life blend.

People skills matter to her. She didn鈥檛 go into technology to get away from people, but rather to engage and inspire them.

Randy Hays, a jeweler, has known Bunker since their days at Sam Hughes Elementary. More recently, she encouraged him to do an exhibition at Xerocraft Hackerspace and get involved with Startup 蜜柚直播. Now he sells his Celtic and Gothic-style rings through an Etsy store online.

鈥淪he is one of those people that can鈥檛 help but instigate things and push people toward things that they are probably going to love to do,鈥� Hays says.

During the library鈥檚 days of Harry Potter parties, Bunker took on many roles 鈥� Rita Skeeter, Dolores Umbridge and Molly Weasley. But as a host of annual garden parties, it was the Hogwarts herbology professor Pomona Sprout that stuck.

鈥淪he dressed up and was dead-on perfect ...鈥� says Thania Mayorga-Shull, a former library employee who now works for Make Way For Books. 鈥淪he definitely has a green thumb and magical ability to make all these roses bloom ... and she has a magical way of making things grow and bloom in the library world, too.鈥�