Social etiquette tips for upstanding library patrons

17 06 2010

Once upon a time, I wandered into a barber shop that sported an “Official Haircuts for Men and Boys” poster over the cash register.  Anachronistic even for Dallas in the mid-1980s, I thought it was hilarious.  Since that time I’ve been a huge fan of the 1950s/1960s era films, filmstrips, and posters that were meant to guide the impressionable youth of the time on to the path of correct behavior.

The good folks at the J.Michael Goodson Law Library at Duke, with staff from their Academic Technology department too, have taken those social etiquette films to heart in this libvid, a response to patron complaints about behavior in the library.  This reader submitted (thanks!) nomination is for Best Narration category.  Interlibrary Loan manager, Lee Cloninger’s radio voice harks back to the golden age of youth focused propaganda instruction.  In fact the entire production was just swell!


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Categories : Best Narration

Letting the students do the selling

27 04 2010

The busy Spring has slowed us down a little but we are still thinking about what makes a great libvid.  This one from Coventry University, nominated for Best Documentary, does something that I’m obviously very fond of, it lets the students (or the public, the patrons, or whatever you call your library’s users) tell their peers how they feel about their library.  It is taking word-of-mouth and amplifying it while still covering all the services that the librarians want to show the students.  All without a on-screen librarian to fill in the details.  Admittedly it does run a bit long and the soundtrack is a little too soothing but I think a snappy remix is definitely possible.  And I wish my library had cool looking towers!


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Categories : Best Documentary

Libvid Awards at Computers in Libraries

12 04 2010

Yes, you read that right. The Libvid Awards has sent an intrepid reporter to #cil2010. We’ll be undercover though, so if you talk about your new video loudly enough at the Lobby Bar, well, who knows? It may just garner a nomination. Just be sure to speak clearly when you drop your YouTube channel name.


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Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! Oh there are so many possible titles for this post!

26 03 2010

I’m not sure how many of today’s students grew up watching The Brady Bunch reruns but a whole lot  of librarians did so this libvid from Barton College Library was a ton of fun to watch. Actually, the spoof will still be recognizable to the youngsters thanks to the rather unfortunate recent film version.  Anyway, this clever video, titled The Hackney Bunch, is nominated for Best Spoof.  I personally can’t wait until they do the famous tiki doll necklace scenes from the Hawaii episodes.  I hope that is coming soon.


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Categories : Best Spoof

What can patrons do in your media lab?

5 03 2010

I’ve been thinking about animation for libvids for a while now and I think it offers a lot of possibilities.  Of course students are thinking about animation more and more too.  It’s great to see libraries supporting this interest, and providing the tools for students to create their own animation projects.  This video from the Texas Tech Libraries, nominated in the Best Animation category, is beautifully done while showing the powerful creative tools available to students in the library’s Digital Media Studio.


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Categories : Best Animation

More library advocacy through video!

24 02 2010

With so many library systems under threat of hours cutbacks, collections budget cuts, and branch closures,  library advocacy is clearly an important outreach job for librarians.  This video, nominated for Best Foreign Language Video and Best Public Library Video, is one of many from public librarians in New York City.  While the NYPL has a series of very high profile (and high budget)  ad videos that feature Tim Gunn, Bett Midler, and many other cultural luminaries, I prefer videos like this that feature the real and non-famous) people that are served by their local public library.  This particular video, in Spanish, allows a real NYPL patron to explain what her library means to her.

There are lots of videos like this and I hope there will be lots more!

By the way, we don’t know who made this one or which branch it features but if you know, we’d be happy to acknowledge them.


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Categories : Best Foreign Language Video, Best Public Library Video

Student endorsements, what could be better?

16 02 2010

The power of the endorsement, and its good friend, word of mouth, has been known to the marketing world since the very first widgets rolled off the assembly line.   It is something we all know.  If you do a good job helping a patron, or teaching a class, word will spread and it will bring more patrons, or classes, in to the library.    Of course we can’t hire celebrities to sing our praises but we do have students and, as peers to our target audience, they can be pretty effective.

That’s the idea behind this video, Librarians: Pretty Incredible from Colorado College’s Tutt Library, which is nominated in the Best Documentary category.  This video is part of a series featuring five thesis students describing their library experiences and how the college’s librarians helped them through the research process.   Getting this kind of endorsement on video is a great outreach technique.

Anyone else doing something similar?


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Categories : Best Documentary

It’s just so shiny

2 02 2010

Don’t we all wish our videos were this beautiful?  Ok, maybe yours already are but mine, well, let’s just say I am having some budget envy here.  That said, this library promotion video from Copenhagen Business School Library looks even better than some of the content that the other CBS has put out lately.  They have a few other great videos to choose from too.  This one is nominated in the Best Editing and Best Narration.


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Categories : Best Editing, Best Narration

Never get lost in a law library (again)

20 01 2010

Ahh, the library tour video.  It’s a classic genre of library video with one obvious purpose, for patrons to enter the library for the first time and know exactly where to go.  The problem is that,  like those in-person tours, the video tour can often be more sleep aid than stimulant.   In other words, these are challenging videos to do well.

This video from the University of Buffalo Law Library, nominated in the Best Narration category, really gets it right.  It isn’t a laugh-a-minute comedy and there isn’t a catchy soundtrack but it does accomplish two important tasks at the same time.  It explains the lay-out of the physical library AND it explains the organization and uses of different types of legal information.  So students learn where to look and what they are looking for, all before they get to the library.


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Categories : Best Narration

If you see something, say something

14 01 2010

Conference season is upon us and we are calling on all of you, our loyal readers, to be our eyes and ears out there in the wilds of Boston and all the other meetings coming up.  Well, eyes mostly, I guess, this is a video site after all.

We know people will be talking about their outreach and instruction efforts and at least a few of those people will have shiny new videos that they are very proud of and want to show the world.  And we can help with that!

As always, we accept nominations of fantastic libvids at our email account: nominations[At]libvid-awards[dot]com.


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