YouTube

YouTube is a site I particularly like for a variety of reasons. It has lots of library related videos on it, many of which are particularly interesting and/or useful. There is also lots of fun stuff to look at! YouTube allows tagging so searches can then be done on existing tags, it also allows viewer comments and ratings which can be very helpful. Another feature of YouTube is that it provides links to other videos from the author(?) of the video, as well as topic related video links. One video which I have seen and particularly like was Building Academic Library 2.0 by Meredith Farkas, the Distance Learning Librarian at Norwich University. This video is of a keynote address she gave at the Academic Library 2.0 conference in November 2007. Meredith is an engaging speaking and whilst this video is a bit long at approx 70 minutes, it is well worth the time. Vidoes have application for libraries as a training and information tool. Training tutorials can be created and posted to the library's webpage for users to look at. This means users in do not need to be available when the library wants to present training but can view the video when and where they want. Videos can also be used as a way of promoting the library, it's staff and services.