This post discusses several library based YouTube videos that serve as examples that other librarians can get inspiration from. Not only that, but teachers and librarians can realize the potential of personally created videos in the classroom and library through the use of a program called Animoto. Not only that, but what better way to share those videos but through a nifty tool called QR codes, which will also be briefly discussed as well. Let’s get started!
As a librarian, there are times when using videos can prove conducive to the educational purposes of a library. Here are some examples of YouTube videos you can create as a librarian in a public school setting:
1. Youtube Name: Calypso Gilstrap:
- Most helpful video: “Getting Started with the MHS Library Website.”
- Most liked video: “Tiger Visits the Norman High Library.”
2. Youtube Name: Theunquietlibrary:
- Most helpful video: “Finding CC Licensed images in Advanced Flickr Search.”
- Most liked video: “New Arrivals, April 2012.”
3. Youtube Name: Pikesvillehslibrary:
- Most helpful video: “Ms Johnson’s Advisory Group.”
- Most liked video: “Hip Hop Day @ The Panthers Library.”
4. Youtube Name: Bbmsmedia:
- Most helpful video: NoodleTools – How to Make a Website Citation.”
- Most liked video: “I’m the One by DK Khaled Overdue Library Book Parody.”
The most useful way I could see using videos would be for a monthly news update covering new arrivals and upcoming events in the library. I’d also use it as instructions for NoodleTools and other research necessities.
Concerning videos, you can make some on Animoto.com. I made a sample video; a book trailer for the children’s book:
“Spooky Stories; a Haunting Collection of Ghostly Tales and Creepy Rhymes.” A synopsis from the publisher is as follows, “Climb aboard and hold on tight for the scariest ride of your life! Travel through this spine-chilling collection and along the way you’ll meet ghouls and ghosts, vampires and witches, mummies and monsters and a whole host of other unspeakable spooks! With tales to make your toys tingle, and rhymes to make you roar, this hilariously horrible book is just great when bedtime beckons…” (Dempsey Parr).
To view the sample video, just scan the QR code below:
This video was very easy to make and has a step by step tutorial on how to create a video. There are many features already available to you as a creator, and the program allows you to upload images, etc, to use and personalize. If you want even better features, you can pay for membership, but for now, I’ll stick with the free one.
As for QR codes, I think it’d be super helpful to record a video giving instructions on how to use Google Slides, or on formatting a paper, and to have the students individually scan the QR code to watch it at their desk. I didn’t realize they were so easy to make and that the scanners were so easy to download. I’m no where as immobilized by them. Probably wrong word usage there…
Author 
I loved using Animoto. I made a book trailer for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and found it to be very easy. It was simply dragging and dropping images into frames, adding text where you wanted it, and rearranging the frames in the order that you prefer. I think students would have fun using this tool and creating their own book trailers. I was nervous about creating a video on YouTube. I can see the benefits of it but I would rather have students use it as a tool to share information about a book or topic they have been studying. As for QR codes, they are a great way to share information about a book or author as well as information about a particular subject. There are so many ways to use these tools in education. I look forward to incorporating the QR Codes in my classroom and share Animoto with other teachers, especially the ELAR teachers.
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