A Beginning of A Beautiful Friendship: The Future of Libraries Using Youtube

Hello, one and all! Can you believe that Halloween has come and passed? Craziness! I rocked the steam-punk look with my boyfriend on the 31st. It took a lot of convincing on my part for him to dress up and attend a Halloween party, but we ended up having a boo-tiful time. Of course, I hope that everyone had a fun and safe Halloween too.

Anyways, as you may recall from my last post, I had mentioned Pinterest was a effective website for promoting library activities. However, it definitely isn't the only photo sharing site that libraries are using. 

Flickr, Photobucket, and even 500PX have sprung up like gladiolas in the library world, with usage rates growing alongside Pinterest. Video sharing sites like Youtube and Vine are also being used more frequently by libraries to promote activities and libraries themselves. 

For the sake of length, I will be mainly focusing on how some libraries are using Youtube and other video-sharing sites to promote themselves and their services.

Just the other day, I browsed Youtube  to see if I could find videos about libraries that didn't involve Harlem Shake dances. Sure, those videos are entertaining, and I still kick myself for not mentioning the idea to my former boss (it would've been nice to dance around like crazy instead of polishing book shelves for the billionth time). However, I wanted to find out how libraries promoted themselves in other creative ways.

As it turns out, the library in The University of Winnipeg (U of W) have created a Youtube account for its students and staff. In their account, they have many useful playlists to choose from. 

A playlist I found especially interesting was one dedicated to Classics students: not only did the library suggest ways to avoid plagiarism, but they also recommended journal articles, library books, and reference materials for essays and other academic assignments. They also have tutorials on how to use their online cataloging system effectively to search for books and other materials.

Personally, I thought these videos would be really helpful in getting me started on finding the materials quickly and effectively in the future. 

By doing videos like this, academic libraries (and other types of libraries for that matter) can cut back on the amount of time answering questions students may have about how certain databases and other resources work. 

While researching other Youtube library accounts, I began to notice patterns that didn't sit right with me. A couple things that personally irritated me was the fact that some videos didn't have great editing, or had poor audio quality. 

I don't expect libraries to have the time and money to put together a 15 minute spectacle, but they should research ways on how to properly attract Youtube subscribers before putting videos up for the whole world to see.

For instance, I think libraries should make sure that they upload videos on a regular basis in order to gain more subscribers. They should also do the best they can to edit thumbnail pictures to make the video more inviting. Unfortunately, content will be most likely ignored on Youtube if one has a blurry thumbnail on their video.

With all that said, I still think that libraries should use Youtube and its ilk, as they have great potential to promote services to a large amount of people. It's just that some libraries should research ways on how to advertise themselves better on it. Even if the sound quality isn't always clean, libraries are putting out videos that have fantastic and informative content.

Here's a link if you want to browse through the Youtube channel made by the library at the University of Winnipeg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWEekojDfkW8OM3uk_UhnA

Have a good day, folks! 

A Pin Paints A Thousand Words: A Reflection on Pinterest

October- a time to jump in brightly coloured leaves, break out the pumpkin carving knives, and hide under the covers while watching The Exorcist. While it's usually a good month for most folks, I spent most of it re-reading my textbooks, reflecting on all the ways I could possibly botch my mid-terms. Ahh, the wonderful life of a college student. It can be some spooky stuff all right:  

Getting back to the point, libraries are ever-changing like the leaves on a maple tree. With all the technological progress, they seem to be adapting to the times quite well. Most libraries have joined and still commit to social-networking giants like Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter. And who can blame them? These three are most patrons' social networking bread and butters. 

However, libraries shouldn't ignore other social networking sites like LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Pinterest. 

While they might not necessarily garner massive recognition like Facebook does, these sites have tremendous potential in promoting library services and their usage among the public is growing at alarming rates. 

For simplicity's sake, today I will be focusing on how some libraries use Pinterest to benefit themselves and their patrons. 

While adventuring in the mystical land known as the Internet, I stumbled upon the Toronto Public Library's (or TPL's) Pinterest. 

I discovered that they not only marketed their branches through the use of photo sharing, but there were also boards dedicated to the library's children's programming and activities. TPL also promoted their reference library and digital archives by showing off their special collections. I even saw a board dedicated to their Bram & Bluma Appel Salon;located on the second floor of the Toronto Reference Library, this place can hold everything from your standard business meetings to weddings.

As you can see, TPL has done a tremendous job promoting themselves though the use of Pinterest. Without it, I would've never known that LEGO clubs for children existed, or that the library hosted a digital collection of Audubon's Birds of America.

Collections and services that patrons might not readily know about are shown through many pictures on Pinterest boards. Thus, Pinterest and other social networking sites make the public more aware of what is offered at libraries in an engaging way. 

The only thing I wish TPL did more with their Pinterest is perhaps promote more of their adult-orientated services, but I still think that what they've done with their boards is excellent. If you want, you can take a look for yourself through this URL: https://www.pinterest.com/torontolibrary/

For now I'll be busy sipping on a good cup of chicken soup, trying to recover from the stress of mid-terms. I hope to enjoy autumn while it lasts.