Skip to main content

Using Video to Promote ALA Banned Books Week

When promoting ALA Banned Books Week (BBW), most librarians have probably turned to the ol' reliable book display, like so:


Click images to enlarge


Book displays are great.  They centralize selected items, focus patrons' attention on a particular topic or theme, and they're relatively easy and inexpensive to produce.  But they're just so, well, static.  Stuff just sits there until patrons come along.

Another popular static medium we use to promote BBW is the customized book mark.

 

These take a bit more work but are fine as promotional tools, as far as they go.

How about something more, say, techno-savvy?



2018 Banned Books Week Promo Trailer
by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library


2016 Banned Books Week Promo Trailer
by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library


Since 2010 my library has used videos to promote BBW.  There are the promo trailer variety (above) that help stimulate interest, and these are reasonably effective (some of ours have been viewed thousands of times).  Book trailers are an especially appealing way to encourage patrons to read particular banned or challenged books.  Here are a couple of examples.



 MPL Book Trailer #351
The Other Boy, by M. G. Hennessey

MPL Book Trailer #17
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

Such book trailers may be popularized by uploading them to a dedicated social medium (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc.) or by embedding or sharing links on social media (e.g., blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.).  Links may also be included in the 856 field of MARC records, so patrons may watch the book trailer while using the online catalog.  For videos stored on YouTube, a special playlist may be created for BBW.


MPL Banned Book Trailers Playlist


The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom encourages libraries to make virtual readout videos featuring banned or challenged books.  Here are a couple of our examples.


Ms. Casey Reads From a Banned Book
by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library



MEG-A-RAE #8
Virtual Read-Out for 2012 Banned Books Week
by Miss Rachel & Miss Meghan

Of course, videos take much more time and effort to create than traditional displays, and so they may not be practicable for some libraries.  However, they have the advantage of visual and auditory engagement wherever patrons may be using the Internet.  Such content is available 24/7, while book displays are visible only during a library's operating hours (unless, of course, they have been photographed and pushed on social media such as Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.)  Anyway, television and movies have conditioned people to click-and-view content, so videos are an easily accessible delivery system for BBW information.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 look...
Post a Comment
Read more

Promo Trailers: A Library's Video Promotional Tool

(UPDATED JULY 20, 2022)   Social media has become a significant promotional vehicle for libraries.  Posting notices about upcoming programs or new services or the latest cataloged items on Facebook or Twitter can be more effective in reaching your patrons than even your library website. Pinterest and Tumblr are popular places to share what your library is (or will soon be) doing.  Flickr and Instagram showcase photographs of library programs or events.  Most commonly, posts are made to these social media by brief text coupled with photographs or images. Have you considered using video as a promotional tool for your library?   Promo trailers can be used to promote any aspect of your library, from new collections to new technologies to programs to services.   My library has been making promo trailers (formerly called program trailers) for over seven years, although we have been rather selective about the subjects we've chosen to promote with t...
2 comments
Read more

Your Very Own Library Composer

My library makes lots of videos, and so we need plenty of soundtrack music to score them. In an earlier blog post , we discussed how to find royalty-free music to download and use in your library videos.  Those resources are fine, but it takes time and work to ferret out suitable music.  Wouldn't it be easier if your library had its own composer?  But where to find one?  They don't exactly grow on trees. Why not use ours?   Danny Buckley composes original music and has granted my library a limited license to use his music royalty-free, free-of-charge for our videos, provided that we include an attribution credit to him and his music in the videos.  We usually give him two credits:  one as music composer, and the other for the particular composition we're using in a video. Danny is willing to grant other libraries the same license for their videos.  That's a sweet deal.  If you'd like MP3 files of any of his compositions, please fee...
Post a Comment
Read more