Week 9 - YouTube

Wow, what an incredible site to play with! As you can tell from my previous post containing the Winston Churchill video, I am really enjoying this assignment!

I enjoyed watching Michael Stephens discuss why he believes books will never be obsolete, and that the human connection is the most important thing in the library, not all the new technical gadgets coming down the pike. The Calgary Public Library's Story Time was very cute, and the Harper College Library Tour was pretty funny. But the video "Now Your Library is Open Late Nights, Too" just made me cringe. This one was the personfication of my greatest worry - that we are trying to cater to the McDonald's Generation by spoonfeeding them (and in some cases digesting for them!) everything, right here, right NOW! Ugh! Okay, climbing off my soapbox...

I haven't found anything I really dislike about YouTube, probably because I'm still wowed by what I've found. The quality of content and production varies, but that's to be expected. I'm sure there's going to be objectionable content, too, depending on one's personal political correctness levels. (Watching Jackie Gleason plug Richard Nixon was a hoot, I will say!). And I'm sure I'll be finding tons of humorous and non-historical videos to watch, too. I plan to do a search for videos on cats next...

As far as libraries using YouTube - well, as I said, the ones listed in the assignment were pretty well done. I can see where they'd be useful in academic and specialized libraries for introducing collections and resources to new users. I suppose you could use them for the same purpose in the public library setting, but I think that's what WE are for (We as in Reference and Circulation Librarians). We're the first ones to interact with patrons, and I think they'd be more likely to talk with us than watch a YouTube video. I can see us updating our web page with other useful things before I can see spending staff time/library money producing a video, just my humble opinion. However, I do like the idea of in-house education using YouTube. We've watched them in the ProjectPlay format (and some of them have been quite simple and easy for me to follow, kinda like the Dummies books). I think Library System-produced in-house educational videos on various library-oriented topics (such as using the system-wide Learning Express program or the Gale Reference Products Software) would be a good use for this technology.

Winston Churchill's famous Battle of Britain Speech

It was a hard choice for me to make,to narrow down the historical YouTube I wanted to share. I listened to Frandlin D. Roosevelt give his "Day of Infamy" speech the day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. As with this Winston Churchill video, a montage of appropriate photos accompanied the actual recording. I also enjoyed watching live footage of Harry S. Truman relieve Douglas MacArthur of his duties as Supreme Commander, as well as live coverage of MacArthur speaking to Congress, giving his "old soldiers never die, they just fade away" speech. Lastly, I watched various YouTube videos of Will Rogers (the Cowboy Philospher), Red Skelton, and Jackie Gleason.

I felt an incredible thrill to hear Churchill, Truman, and Roosevelt. I have read some of their speeches, but it is never the same as hearing the words from the real person. I also listened to videos of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. These men were all incredible speakers, and to hear their voices just gives me a thrill. I haven't heard some of them since I watched 16 mm newsreels or special movies in some of my high school and college history classes. I thought YouTube concentrated on the current, the here and now, the popular. I never realized what a treasure trove of historical materials might be made available through it! I can tell I will be spending time looking up lots more people and events on YouTube!!

Week 9 - Wikis, Pt. 2

Been awhile since I've played in a sandbox (my son is 11), but I just played in the Project Play Wiki Sandbox and had some fun. I added several of my favorite movies (linked to a movie database) and several of my latest favorite quotes. It was interesting to read all the other entries - what a varied group!

Week 9 - Wikis

I liked this lesson on wikis. I didn't realize, at first, that the term was generic, that Wikipedia is a type of wiki. Learn something new everyday, hopefully! Anyway, the information about wikis vs. blogs was very interesting. I can see now how a wiki would be a very useful internal staff tool at the library, as my coworkers have already posted. It would be quite useful for group projects, or it would also be an interesting patron-access point for book/program suggestions.

I also see how I can use one personally as I'm in charge of arranging for my little quilting group's 2008 retreat. Women Who Run With Scissors retreat annually, and it's been time consuming to send coordinating emails to figure out a time/place we could all agree to. A wiki might be an excellent tool to use, if I can get the others to access one. (Some of the 7 members are even less techie oriented than me, if you can believe it!)

I looked up Vesper, WI on Wikipedia and found that there was already an entry. JoAnn, their librarian, has developed a very nice entry about Vesper and discussed it on her blog. (I finally learned how to link using a hyperlink - my techie husband just showed me as I was suffering from blog envy, after seeing other bloggers link to posts or articles! OOOOHHHH, cool!) ANYWAYS, when I checked out Vesper, I saw her article but didn't see a link to the Vesper Library. Took me a few minutes to remember they're not online, hence no link big DUH!. So I guess I'll be working on the 2nd part of the Assignment. Tune in for my next installment later.