Like many others, I enjoy the videos that libraries and librarians (and sometimes our users) are posting to YouTube here and here and here are some of my favorites. The possibilities for connecting with students through video capitalizes on the rich visuals a library environment provides. The past two years, we’ve had a chance to build a partnership with the Housing unit in Student Services on our campus and produce a video for outreach to new students. As former ACRLog-er Scott Walter is right to remind us, Student Services professionals are natural partners on campus and share some similar challenges and approaches with us (on Facebook, Scott has recently formed the “Student Services in Libraries” group).
Some readers may have attended the panel I gave with colleagues Meg Burger and Susan Avery at the ACRL National Conference in Baltimore where we were able to give people a sneak-peak at our not-yet-released “Explore the Undergrad Library” commercial that we produced with the Housing unit. So many people asked for the link when it was posted and asked that we share it more broadly. For a variety of reasons, we can’t put it on YouTube or other similar site, but it is now online from the Housing website and will be sent to all first-year undergraduate students as part of a DVD introducing academic and students services on campus (view Windows Media Player or view Quicktime).
Anyone else have something like this they are willing to share? Use the comments and tell ACRLog about it!
Thank you for posting this. A wonderful job on the video.
There is an irony in our working so hard to deliver information to the desktop, then making videos to try to get them to come to the library! My favorite part is the librarian. She projects a certain dignity.
Here’s the interesting part. We’re finding that the digital content, tools, and services we provide – including IM reference – the more students we have coming in to the library. Many times per week we have hours where the library has more students than we have places to sit. What we are now trying to focus on is deepening their use of the range of library resources and services once we get them through the doors. (Oh, and there are three of us librarians in the film – though one is playing a role of a student.)