BTW

Sorry for the non-posting, other higher priority technologies have been demanding my full attention.

Producing Instructional Videos

At the Mass. Lib. Assoc. annual conference last week in Sturbridge, MA there was an excellent program on creating instructional videos with digital video. I didn't get to sit through all of it but there are some good notes and links available here at MLA's blog: "I'm Ready For My Close-Up, Mr. Demille"

The powerpoint presentation is supposed to be available online as well, when it is I'll link it.

Feeling Adventurous?

From Thomson Gale:

Love your library?

Love being a librarian?

Tell the world why and you could win $10,000!

In honor of libraries and librarians everywhere, Thomson Gale has
created librareo (www.gale.com/librareo), a Web site dedicated to promoting, marketing, shouting from the mountain tops and generally praising libraries, librarians and the people who love them.

Visit www.gale.com/librareo between April 15 and May 25 to find out how one simple activity - uploading a video you've created to YouTube professing your love for your library; your fellow librarians; the community you serve; the information you keep, archive and categorize - can win $10,000. $5,000 goes to the library and $5,000 is for you to spend however you want! And...you'll be the guest of honor at a special screening of the winning video at the ALA Annual Conference!

Libraries are about communities, and so is this contest. A panel of judges will narrow down the videos submitted to five finalists based on the criteria you'll find at www.gale.com/librareo. From June 1-11, voting is open to the public...and it's the public that will pick the winning video. The video with the most votes wins the prize money!

So point your camcorder toward the reference desk, interview some patrons, tell a success story and post it on the librareo YouTube group site. It's fun, it's simple and it could make you and your library $10,000 wealthier.

For a complete list of rules, permission forms, prize details and more information, visit www.gale.com/librareo.

Good luck!

Town Video

The Town of Brockton has contracted out for some promotional video. (Just look to the bottom of the page for the large VIDEOS button.) My town is looking at the same thing so I'm not sure what I can say in terms of detail. Some other communities have gone with the same product, if I get the links I'll share them as well. Its not in the same vein as what libraries use videos for but interesting none the less.

...on an unrelated note I'm still recuperating from Christmas vacation and I'm going to Seattle for ALA next week, so I'll try and do a test video with the new camera between now and then but no promises.

Directions and Inspirations

Librarian In Black points to a couple of YouTube items. One is a short directional on how to get to the Reference Desk.

The second is a neat promotional idea by the Denver Public Library, getting teens to make 'how I have fun at the library' videos and having a YouTube contest.

Video Toolbox

YouTube has a nice collection of articles for anyone interested in getting into video production. There's even more at VideoMagazine where the original articles came from. I'm not a fan of, not very good at, subject immersion but a little reading here, a little there, and it makes a big difference.

320x240

Somebody in the comments section said they didn't like YouTube's video quality. My clips have been a little fuzzy but what happens is the original clips are a larger resolution and they either have to be saved into a smaller 320x240 resolution or YouTube will do it when you upload. Whether I can reformat the clips so they hold up better I don't know yet, I need to find out what they're set at now. I do know the new camera actually films at 320x240 so at least the online quality may actually increase for in-library created film.

re: I Got It!

The camera has a slot for a Memory Stick Duo. I think its primarily for the camera functions but the manual says you can record up to 5 hours on a 2 GB stick. That seems like a lot of video so I'm not sure about the quality but its something to hope for.

I Got It!

A Sony Handycam DCR-HC-36. The thing is about the size of my fist which is pretty freaky after working with a higher-end but much larger camera similar to the DCR-VX2100.

So far I've charged the battery and looked around a little with it. I'm not good at exploring without a specific project to work on so it could be a while before I really get comfortable with it. The first project will be a tour of the library (unless something quicker pops up) and will start after New Year's.

Permission TV

Somebody sent me these links. The first is the company PermissionTV, what I would describe as a for-profit and higher quality YouTube. They offer their services to libraries, an example setup here and Orange County's service through them here. The presentation is miles above anything an individual library would do but it could also be miles above what a lot of libraries would need to do.

Speaking from the POV of a middle-sized library you're going to be able to do what you want through YouTube, especially with the ability to insert the video into your website with just a little code. The only real question is how long YouTube can remain free and if there's an eventual cost what will it be?

Larger, better financed libraries, or library systems, will probably be more interested in what P-TV offers.