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.