10 Ways Public Libraries Can Use Video

Today, the roles of creating, editing and sharing video content are being adopted by organizations in increasingly innovative ways. How might a public library use video content to further the library’s mission?

10 Ways Public Libraries Can Use Video

1. Film community leaders or sports figures reading their favorite children’s books and poems

2. Document the construction of a new library, including a groundbreaking ceremony, interviews with community members and library staff, and the opening day

3. Create a video tour of the library’s permanent art collection

4. Create video tutorials of specific resources and collections, including helpful search strategies (I especially love the MIT Libraries Video Tutorials)

5. Film a unique program offered by the library such as a storytelling festival or one on sign language for babies

6. Create a video tour of the main library

7. Assemble a short video highlighting a range of library resources on a specific topic (including databases, ebooks, print materials, and a reference librarian)

8. Create an action-packed video simply to market the library’s wealth of services and many happenings

9. Film a video-only program for busy adult customers 

10. Hold a contest similar to Ask a Librarian’s recent Director’s Chair contest and encourage local high school students to create videos promoting their branch library

Then, make the content available. Depending on the video, multiple venues may be appropriate for distributing the video. Ideas include posting on YouTube, allowing it to be downloaded or streamed from the library website, submitting it to local media for broadcast, and streaming the video from a laptop at local events.

Increase Your Blog’s RSS Feed Subscribers

Here’s a simple means to increase the number of subscribers to your blog: promote your RSS feed. When you comment on another blog, instead of leaving just your blog address, leave the address to your feed. This highlights your blog as well as suggests that your blog is fantastic and worth subscribing to via RSS.

Why would you wish to increase the number of subscribers? Theoretically, more RSS feed subscribers leads to a wider audience of readers. And more readers inclined to read/skim each post. Which leads to greater exposure for your blog. Which is a good thing.

(Found some time ago via doshdosh)

Digital Services at Borders

Often bookstores are elevated as a model for libraries in the library literature. This time, a current USA Today article about Borders could easily refer to a library.

Borders Opens Bookshelves to Digital Services
By Jayne O’Donnell, Sharon Silke Carty and Erin Kutz 

Here is a key excerpt:

“But follow the table of books snaking off to the right, and you’ll come face-to-face with Borders’ newest retail strategy: a digital center where you can download music or books, burn CDs, research family histories, print pictures and order leather-bound books crammed with family photos — with help from clerks who know how to do those sorts of things and won’t embarrass you if you don’t.” 

Yep, sounds like a library.

I wonder, does our public know we offer so many fantastic services? Perhaps some web 2.0-style marketing is in order: What can you do @ your library?