Video Promotions of National ... Week/Month

Want to promote at your library the latest national ... [fill-in the blank] week (or month) beyond book displays and signs? How about promo trailers? These are videos that promote a library event, program, activity, service, collection, or whatever else you'd like the public to know about. They may also be used to promote national events, such as Banned Books Week or National Library Week. Here are some examples we've made over the years (we used to call them program trailers but decided promo trailers was more accurate):

"Banned Book" Trailers, by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library

Libraries Transform

(2017 National Library Week Promo Trailer)

by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library

National Family History Month (October)
(MPL Program Trailer #11)

Native American Heritage Month (November)
(MPL Program Trailer #14)

2014 National Library Week Promo Trailer
by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library

National Library Week (April 10-16, 2011)
(MPL Program Trailer #18)

Readers' advisory videos may also be used to promote national events, such as Banned Books Week.

MEG-A-RAE #7

A Very VERY Special Banned Books Episode,

by Miss Rachel & Miss Meghan

MEG-A-RAE #8

Virtual Readout for 2012 Banned Books Week

by Miss Rachel & Miss Meghan

Promo trailers can also showcase library staff's participation in national library conferences.

Videos visually engage patrons while informing them about an upcoming national event that the library is observing. There's nothing wrong with old-fashioned book displays, but modern patrons are visually attuned. That's what over 70 years of television has done to change how we perceive things.

Some of our other posts on this blog discuss what you'll need to make your own library videos. It's really not so difficult. If we can do it, anyone can.

Comments

Using QR Codes to Promote Book Trailers on Book Displays

The ubiquitous book display is a mainstay of traditional collection promotion in public libraries . How many of these have you made over the years? Frankly, I've lost count. Book displays increase item circulation because they attract patrons' attention and provide them with immediate gratification without their having to search for what has caught their interest. The books are right there ; just grab them and head for circulation to check them out. Nothing could be easier. But what if the books are carefully wrapped-up (say, for a banned book display, which we did a couple of times), and patrons can't read the back cover descriptions? For ordinary book displays, is there something more visually engaging that could appeal to patrons than just having to read the book jackets? That's where book trailers could help "sell" the book. Wouldn't it be nice if patrons could watch the book trailers while they're looking a

Making Library Videos: Music Soundtracks

Library videos need a musical soundtrack. Let's try a little comparison to illustrate. Turn-off the sound on your computer, mobile device, or whatever technology you're using to read this blog post. Then play the book trailer (below). MPL Book Trailer #177 Floor Four: A Novella of Horror, by A. Lopez, Jr. Now, turn on your sound and replay the book trailer (the music's a bit soft at the beginning, so turn it up loud so you can hear clearly, or, better yet, use earphones). 'Nuff said. Musical soundtracks set the mood of a video, especially when there is no voice-over track. Consider a couple of examples. MPL Book Trailer #49 Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson MPL Book Trailer #46 Good-Bye, Mister Chips, by James Hilton Live-action videos benefit from music, too. Like this one, for instance: OverDrive Promo Trailer, by Miss Rachel & Miss Michelle How do you find music for your video soundtracks? There are w

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 dir

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