YouTube

As the podcast for this week stated, you have to wade through a lot of trash to find the pearls on YouTube. I searched the term "library" and found Mr. Bean at the Library.. I like Mr. Bean, so I thought I'd enjoy this video. What a hoot; Mr. Bean trying so hard to avoid making the library floor creak as he walks and later oiling (with an oil can!) a noisy zipper on his bag. Boy, this isn't OUR library! This was a fun video and good for a laugh. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RyDY0hiMZy8
I then searched the term "librarian" and found another funny one called "Librarian Dialogues" filmed in the West Bloomfield, MI Public Library. It was a group of librarians venting about problems in the library. One of the librarians kept mistakenly calling DVDs CDS, and the best line was "What do we need BVDs for? This is a library!" Also good for a laugh. http://youtube.com/watch?v=hoHdTpJReUk
I choose another video "Filipino Libraian" because I am always interested in the perspectives of people from other cultures. This video was simple...just a man speaking, but it is quite inspiring and moving. The speaker, a 32 year-old male librarian who is an assistant professor at the Institute of LIS at the University of the Philippines, is describing some things about himself as a person and a librarian. He mentions the "shushing" idea about librarians and other stereotypes. He says that this video is his "contribution to the effort to change the stereotypes that have been associated with my profession over the years." He says we can't just complain about the stereotypes, but must present alternative images. This video is short (2:05) and simple but eloquent in its message.




Having videos on the library website is a wonderful resource to explain how to use various features of our site, e.g., downloading audiobooks, using databases, etc. I have found that seeing the process as one hears it explained is very helpful to the learning process.