Videos and QR Codes in the Library

Videos and libraries go together like

peas and carrots,

batman and robin,

peanut butter and jelly.

Librarians have figured out that good video enhances the information supplying experience AND makes everyone’s job easier.

The following school libraries have produced some quality tools and helps for their students.

At Norman High School students get help by comparing Google docs vs. word docs . After viewing this presentation students are prepared  to use and navigate the most use software applications.

Libraries also have a lot of fun with video. Students love to see their teachers having fun, as in the video below.

In the Unquiet Library students are supported in their assignments with help from teachers and librarians. In this useful and helpful production students receive guidance and help with their senior project.

In the school they get to see their librarian around and among the “people” as she shares the library with students at lunch.

The Pikesville HS Library serves the needs of its students by giving information about course selections and how to get financial aid in future schooling efforts.  In this video, students can view a presentation on financial aid that was at an evening event.

The students here also get organization and support with the following Pimp my Binder episode. With humor and known faces, students get tips on how to be more organized.

Bonnie Branch Middle School provides a review of how to prepare proper citations.

And students can catch a glimpse of friends just having fun in the library.

QR codes are a newer addition to library services.This little scannable visual will enable library users to find more information about anything they are looking for.  Brigham Young University uses QR codes to send patrons on an audio tour of the library and it’s most important elements. Librarians are using them to help patrons go straight to the library catalog to find more relevant documents. Another library links their current events to related information to help users know what special programs are available. Users can be directed to library services like study rooms, making appointments with a research librarian. Other libraries create links to mobile website and twitter pages, contests, popular books to recommend further reading, and video trailers that relate to what patrons need.

I wanted to get my classes excited about a new book that caught my imagination. 

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures is the 2014 Newbery Award winner. According to Amazon:

It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry — and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. From #1 New York Timesbest-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format — a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell.

Here is a QR code to take you directly to the book trailer I made for this great new book.

I can see a lot of uses for QR codes in libraries. I'd like to encourage students to look farther than they planned with well placed codes on the shelves that will help with their research and book searches. I'd like to use videos to give information that students need and show what the library can offer them. I think it is important to be as close to the cutting edge as you can get when working with students, so I know that I will  follow, use, and try the latest technologies and formats that will help students with  their educational needs.

Library services in the digital age

 Zickuhr, K, Rainie, L. Library services in the digital age, Pew Internet & American Life Project,  January 22, 2013, http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/01/22/Library-services/, February 3 2014. 80 pgs.

The infographic above was created to give you a brief glance at the highlights of information that were gleaned from a 2013 report about how patrons use the library and what they expect from the institution. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that many library patrons are eager to see libraries’ digital services expand, yet also feel that print books remain important in the digital age.(2) Apps for checkout, technology "petting zoos", "Redbox" style lending machines, and "Amazon" style book recommendations would be eagerly accepted according to the study's respondents. I love these ideas for how to expand a library's offerings to its community. As the feel of the library shifts from a quiet, reading only zone to an interactive information playground I am excited about what the future holds.

I was interested to learn that 91% of Americans aged 16 and older consider the library an important part of their community, and that 76% of them think libraries are important to them and their families. However, only 22% say that they know all or most of the services that their library offers. It is clear from the difference in percentages that libraries need to do more to get their services and information into the hands of the public.

The study also noted that ethnicity is a significant factor in how one views the library. African Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to rate the library and its services as very important when compared to their Anglo neighbors. This leads me to believe that libraries should take note of how to better serve these populations.

After reading and considering the data presented within this report, I am confident that libraries will be an important part of the future of our free and learned society. As technologies progress, this institution will continue to provide information, community helps, and entertainment options for all who use its vast and varied resources.

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