YouTube

Above, a short (3.5 minutes) video of a presentation that the Greater Columbia Fantasy Costumers Guild gave at the 2001 World SF Convention in Philadelphia. You might see a familiar face among the players.

What could the library use YouTube for? My first thoughts revolve around demos, especially with the new website design coming Real Soon Now. I think patrons would love video demos of how to request a book, how to renew items, how to use the various databases, etc. Maybe we could record some parts of the various "Click Here" presentations and have them on YouTube for patrons to watch at their leisure.

In an earlier post, I suggested that we might syndicate the Board President's column from Happenings via RSS. Why not also have a video version?

We have dozens of talented storytellers in our system...why not record the best stories of each one, and build up an archive of great storytelling for kids/parents/caregivers? Heck, we could embed those videos in a blog or web page that also features book lists, patterns for crafts, etc. Sort of a virtual, online "Read-to-Me" Kit.

How about staff training? Do our database vendors have YouTube videos on how to use their products? (If not, why not?) And there are the GSM breakout sessions...can't some of them be recorded and available for later viewing? And now that Mr. Gannon is no longer with us, don't you wish you could go back and watch some of his presentations when you need a laugh? As a matter of fact, with every training opportunity that comes up, we should ask ourselves, "Would this be appropriate for a YouTube video?"

As a huge fan of Not Checked In, I wish they would record some of their classic songs and put them on YouTube.

Okay, those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.