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 looking a
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more