Library Instructional Videos

Instructional videos are an engaging way libraries may introduce new technologies, services, or collections to patrons. Here are several examples.

How to Use Our New Self-Checkout Kiosks

by "Flat" Cauli Le Chat (2013)

Auto Check-in at MPL

by "Flat" Cauli Le Chat (2013)

Mini-Tour of the Library's Genealogy Web Page

by Morgan County (Indiana) Public Library (2016)

(Watch FULL SCREEN Version)

Preserving Family Heirlooms

by Stephanie Gowler, Conservator,

Indiana State Library (2013)

How to Locate, by Maastricht University (2015)

You can have a lot of fun with instructional videos, if you're so inclined.

Taylor Library Self Check-out Instructional Video
by Western University (2012)

Power Up Charging Stations Promo Trailer

by Mooresville Public Library (2016)

Of course, helpful instructional handouts are still tried-and-true, but they consume lots of paper. With increasing numbers of patrons using handheld, mobile computing devices, instructional videos would seem a more environmentally-friendly, visually-engaging approach to teaching patrons new tricks or promoting new services or collections. You can even use quick response (QR) codes on signs that patrons can scan to watch instructional videos while they're standing at the location of particular technologies they want to use.

Take a look at some of our other posts on this blog to learn more about making library videos. They have many applications that can assist your patrons (or staff).

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"Library Spokescritters" Social Media Success Stories

Previously, we discussed how libraries could use "spokescritters" (i.e., resident animals) to promote their services and collections. Many of these "spokescritters" have taken to social media as their primary promotional vehicles. How successful have they been?
Consider Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library's feline roving reporter, Cauli Le Chat. Her blog, Cat's Eye View @ MPL, has been viewed extensively--as of right now, it has 475,341 viewings. We saw this graphic from yesterday's blog posting:
Total Blog Viewings (as of February 24, 2018) Cat's Eye View @ MPL
Mooresville Public Library (MPL) serves Brown Township in Morgan County, Indiana, which has a population under 15,000. Furthermore, Cauli Le Chat officially "retired" as roving reporter early last year, because she doesn't get out as much as she used to (she once lived down the street and would hangout outside the library--hence her "roving reporter" status), and al…

Extending Our Facebook Reach Through Local History

In January, 2018, one of our Facebook librarians began a local history quiz. It was favorably received, but just as the feature was getting some traction, one of our library's key staff members left, which resulted in a duty shift that compelled us to postpone the quizzes until late March, 2018, when they were resumed as a daily Facebook posting through the present time (end of May, 2018).
Take a look at our Facebook reach statistics so far for 2018 (click images to enlarge):

That's quite a jump for April and May. The only significant content change in our Facebook postings has been the daily local history quizzes, so we're fairly confident that the reach explosion is due primarily to that feature.
Here's a typical example of one of our local history quizzes:

Facebook Analytics provided the following statistical analysis:

These local history quizzes engage our Facebook patrons more effectively than any other content. Perhaps Mooresville, Indiana just has the most intere…

Using the MARC 856 Field for Book Trailers

Book trailers are videos used to promote particular books and encourage patrons to read them. They are comparable to movie trailers as marketing tools. Book trailers are often posted on dedicated video channels, such as YouTube or Vimeo, or on websites, blogs, or other social media. At Mooresville Public Library, we place our book trailers on the MPL YouTube Channel, as well as links on our website and social media.
Here's an example of one of our book trailers:
MPL Book Trailer #322 A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
How do patrons discover our book trailers? A simple Google search (or YouTube search) with the book's title and "book trailer" will retrieve them, along with hundreds of other videos. Visitors to our website may click links to our YouTube channel or other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs) that feature our videos. But these are indirect methods of distributing this type of content. Is there a more direct approach?
Ideally, it…

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