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.





But what about the rest of the world?

7 12 2009

What would be the point of giving out video awards if we ignored most of the planet?  If our slightly better-known cinema awards rivals can honor foreign language films, so can we. Besides, there is nothing like a watching a film with subtitles to make a person feel attuned with the cognoscenti.  So without further ado, I bring you our first nominee for Best Foreign Language Video.

This HD video, in Cantonese with Mandarin subtitles, follows Lingnam University students Silva Siu and Ying Tsang on the 2009  edition of the Fong Sum Wood Library tour.   Cheerful and thorough, Silva leds Ying through nearly every aspect of the library and it’s services, all without the action sequences, skyline shots, corrupt cops, smokey rooms, or dark rainy alleyways that Hong Kong movies normally bring to mind.  This video won’t be coming to IFC, or that martial arts video store we used to visit down by the Port Authority Bus Terminal, but if you want to learn more about Lingnam’s library this will be a blockbuster. Oh and try not to drool too much over all those flat screen TVs in the media center.








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