I had the opportunity today to take an audioconference about how libraries can use YouTube. I was the only non-librarian in the room, and the only one with videos of my own on YouTube... but all of us agreed that a conference about a video website might have been better delivered as a web-conference than audio plus a powerpoint presentation. On top of that, the content of the presentation seemed slim; while they did discuss equipment and software, the rest of the information was basic stuff that could be gleaned from spending 20 minutes (or less) on YouTube.
Aside from YouTube, libraries and librarians are popping up on Facebook, MySpace, SecondLife, and everywhere else. They are blogging, vlogging, podcasting, and providing virtual reference. Our electronic resource collection is growing at a pace that rivals (or maybe even outpaces) our print collection -- e-journals, e-books, and new digitization projects (one current project involves digitizing sound recordings) -- and soon we'll have shiny new software in place to organize it all.
What I wonder is, where is this all going? Is this really what library users want? Surveys seem to point that way and even I've been on the receiving end of, "You mean I have to look it up in a book? Isn't there a website or something?"
I see the use of networking with Facebook or Ning and I do understand the power that multimedia brings to any website. I've made my peace with wikis, creative commons, and collaborative media. I just don't understand the point of building avatars in Second Life, or posting cute/funny videos on YouTube. Sure, it might get the library some media exposure, but will it bring in more users? Will it educate the ones we have?
Somebody convince me that this is neither a waste of time, nor an insult to the social users of these sites, and I'll listen. Right now, I'm of the opinion that there are limits and boundaries to the use of social networking in an organizational setting and I'm not sure it would be wise to push them too far.
29 May 2007
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2 comments:
How Youtube can serve libraries is as a memory you don't have yet. Youtube could give you a fast forward button. Alot of kids go from the Dewey Decimal system to the LoC in post-Secondary and it can alienate. Maybe you could say, "where is sociology?" and the path from the kiosk to the sociolgy section is displayed on a video-- then use a fast forward button and speed through the tour.
SecondLife is a gimmick that would only pay off if the data were available via this virtual world.
Eventually I think the hype will settle out. Of course, two years ago I would have pegged online as a concept that's played out. Then came Youtube to make it viable.
SL is pretty much a waste of time for any sort of information archive right now. The built-in browser has to get a lot better so that information can be presented as something better than a notecard or image. I see potential in the models and tours that I've bumped into on occasion, but without a meaningful text it's awkward. Those notecards are intrusive!
I don't know how useful YouTube would be for creating new content that is library-specific, other than what mike already mentioned. It would be nice if our library software had a "look subject 'x' up on YouTube" link. They already have links to related Google searches, and that's pretty nifty. But that is just adding one little element of the "library as info retrieval resource" picture, not a direct usage.
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