Academic Libraries and YouTube

From LIS5313 Course Wiki

By Melissa Del Castillo

December 7, 2008

What is YouTube?

YouTube was created in February of 2005 by three friends who were all under 30; Steve Chen, Jawed Karim, and Chad Hurley. It quickly gained popularity and was sold 21 months later to Google for $1.65 billion.

"YouTube and Joost" by Flickr user thms.nl

YouTube is a video sharing website that allows users to upload and view videos over the internet for free. A user can upload as many videos as they want with only two restrictions. Single videos cannot exceed 100 megabytes in size and content cannot be copyrighted or offensive. When uploaded, all videos are converted to Flash video. This format allows anyone to watch regardless of the media player they use.

Their tagline is "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube (2008) posted about their traffic levels that "people are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily" and "every minute, ten hours of video is uploaded to YouTube" (para. 16).

From the "YouTube Fact Sheet" this is a list of some of the site's features:

Video embedding: Users can insert a YouTube video into Facebook and MySpace accounts, blogs, or other Web sites where anyone can watch them.
Public or private videos: Users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with friends and family upon upload.
Subscriptions: Users are able to keep track of their favorite users' new videos.
Quick Capture: Users with a webcam and Flash software are able to instantly record video responses or normal videos onto the site rather than having to prerecord and then upload the video.
TestTube: This is an area where YouTube engineers and developers conduct alpha testing for new features in development. Users are encouraged to participate in the development process and are welcome to evaluate the feature.

(YouTube, 2008, para. 5)

Why YouTube?

Convenience and Access

There are many advantages to using YouTube as a social software tool to communicate with stakeholders and patrons. Convenience and access draw many academic libraries to YouTube. These videos could be accessed by patrons on and off campus, any day, and at any time. Jack M. Maness (2007) of the University of Colorado at Boulder speaks on how streaming video is a promising way to deliver "point of need" access of information for students (p. 44). YouTube meets this much needed criteria of busy staff, students, and professors. A student can access a video tutorial produced by the library on searching EBSCO at 2 a.m. in the middle of an all night cram session. James Trier (2007), a professor at University of North Carolina, refers to this as YouTube's special ability in "time shifting" or to be available at any time and "space shifting" or to be available in a "variety of physical settings" like home, the library, or just about anywhere with a cellphone with internet capabilities (p. 411). Robert Monge (2007) of the University of South Dakota Library agrees that "access and convenience are the biggest reasons" librarians use YouTube and the "students don't have to download any special software or type in any passwords to get access to content" (p. 55). The videos can be shared and viewed as many times as needed. Because students already use YouTube for other purposes, there is no need to "generate buy in" and videos can be posted "without having to teach students how to access the videos"(Monge, 2007, p. 56). YouTube's popularity has proven it has usability. Academic libraries can take advantage of a medium that is well liked, convenient, and easy to use.

"watching the anthropology of Youtube on the iPhone" by Flickr user ~C4Chaos

Kalia Bussert, who produces the "Research Minutes" for the Cornell Library, chose to create the video tutorials to "reach students" and "YouTube seemed like a good idea since it is so popular" (Library Journal, 2008, para. 3). EDUCAUSE has an online book,"Educating the Net Generation", and the chapter on "Net Generation Students and Libraries" and it discusses this generation of young college students and their propensity to use computers and video games (Lippincott, 2005, para. 3). Joan K. Lippincott (2005) of the Coalition for Networked Information states that "students often find library-sponsored resources difficult to figure out on their own, and they are seldom exposed to or interested in formal instruction in information literacy" (para. 4). They prefer the simplicity of a web tool they are familiar with and that they find easy to use. Trier (2007) relates YouTube to Marshall McLuhan's notion of "cool" media in that it "has the most videos", "is currently the most popular", and it invites "high participation" (p. 408). Trier (2007) conducted a few searching exercises for videos in his media classes on YouTube and concludes that his students "got a glimpse of the powerful pedagogical potential of YouTube, particularly the ease with which it enables users to access videos relevant to their interests" (p. 410).

It's a Free Web Tool

Another big draw for YouTube is that using YouTube and its tools are free. Money is spent by the library on hardware, software, and manpower when creating videos, but essentially the service cost nothing. Some of the features that make YouTube valuable are free also, including a comment board, opportunities to join other groups with like-minded pursuits, messaging, subscriptions and favorites, profiles that can be used as a marketing tool, and administration functions and settings for privacy.

Distance Learners

Distance learners will gain great benefits from YouTube library tutorials. Many distance learners use the electronic databases provided by the university library with an off campus login. If these patrons want to learn how to use LexisNexis, they may be too far from the campus to ask for help in person and may not have the time to have their question answered in an email. If the library chose to create research database tutorials posted on YouTube, the distance learner could access the information regardless of location and time zone.

Online Presence

Creating an online presence is very important to academic libraries who want to serve their patrons. Using social software and web 2.0 tools is an appealing way for a library to stay innovative and meet students in an arena they are already using. There are communities of higher education using Flickr, blogger, Facebook, and Second Life. This one more avenue to pursue participation and assist students. Researchers Eleanor Mitchell and Sarah Barbara Watstein (2007) urge librarians to "step up to the multifaceted challenge of visibility" in online environments (p. 521). They explain that "in higher education, today's students now require a consistent, powerful, and transparent application of our educational technology applications across disciplines and across their campus" (Mitchell & Watstein, 2007, pp. 521-522). YouTube offers the perfect opportunity to be represented in a web environment that students already populate. The ultimate need is for accurate and invested instruction created by knowledgeable information professionals to guide patrons to the "right" information. When a library can create useful videos with information literacy lessons, a secondary audience outside the college will also be attracted to use the YouTube clips. This outreach can help a middle school English teacher to give access to information on plagiarism to their students before a big paper or can offer a media specialist a video to show during a presentation on Boolean searching.

Visual Literacy

Visual literacy is an added bonus of using YouTube. Robert Monge (2007) defines visual literacy as "the idea that images are used to communicate meaning" (p. 55). To insure image contextualization, Monge (2007) suggests to consult the standards and indicators of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)'s "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education"(p. 56). By incorporating the performance indicators into the design of your video, you will be creating instruction that is geared toward providing information literacy skills. Building on this notion, YouTube is the perfect format to reach visual and aural learners (Ariew, 2008, para. 6).

Some Challenges of Using YouTube

In interviews with three academic libraries that post videos to YouTube, challenges related with using YouTube were discussed. The main challenges were technical issues related to size and quality of flash converted videos. When interviewed on 15 November 2008, Miyo Davis from The Art Institution of Washington responded "trying to get the highest quality sound and video while still making the videos small enough to fulfill YouTube's size requirements" was the toughest challenge. Laurie Taylor from University of Florida Library (personal correspondence, November 7, 2008)and Brooke Cox from DePauw University Library (personal correspondence, December 1, 2008) also cited the small size requirement and quality of converted video. Other issues with YouTube included balancing video creation with other staff duties, coordination of video making process and on-site filming, promotion to patrons, and measuring effects of using this format.

Information overload is a challenge when creating a video. Robert Monge (2007) suggests "a modular format with each lesson consisting of several short video units" (p. 57). When designing a video, a library should consider dividing the topic into short clips. When videos run too long or have too many concepts, there is a risk that the viewer will loose interest or become confused.

Another challenge is what Michael Casey and Michael Stephens (2008) refer to as "coping with anonymity" (p. 34). They state that "many organizations pursue transparency by creating more open means of communication" with web 2.0 tools like blogs, Flickr, and YouTube (Casey & Stepehens, 2008, p. 31). When participating in these online and open forums, there is a certain loss of control. Examples could be inappropriate commenting to library posted videos or students filming parodies of the library's videos and posting to YouTube also. Because anyone can create an account with a fake name, there is to some extent no way to really know the credentials and identity of those posting YouTube comments and videos. Diligent supervision of the library's YouTube channel and using administration settings can be used to solve some of these issues. Libraries who want feedback on their YouTube videos must also realize that positive and negative evaluations can help to better their efforts.

How Can Academic Libraries Use YouTube?

Susan Ariew (2008), a librarian at University of South Florida, asserts that "libraries create videos for a variety of different purposes, including promotion and outreach, instruction, and archiving" and that "the practice of finding, using, sharing, and evaluating online videos has already entered the domain of information literacy and is likely to become an essential part of the educational landscape" (paras. 3,4).

Here are some examples of types of videos produced by academic libraries that you can find on YouTube...

Library Orientation Videos

Get to know your library! This a great way to market the library to students and introduce the resources available at your library. Things that may be included in an orientation or introduction video would be a virtual tour, interviews of the librarians, and what makes your library special.

Tutorials

"The Adventures of SUPER Librarian" by Flickr user circulating

Libraries often want to provide "point of need" access to students and staff (Manness, 2007, p. 36). In the vein of teaching critical information literacy skills, these videos could contain instruction on "how to research" like or "how to use databases". There are also video tutorials on staff training modules and professional development for librarians. One factor to consider when producing these videos is the secondary audience that may view tutorial videos. These videos can have content that can be used by students from other universities, high school students, media specialists, or others in the education field.

Digital Projects

Many libraries use YouTube as a digital archive. These video repositories can include lectures, digitized collections of preserved film, special collections, art or artifact exhibits, or video programs created by the library that were originally produced for other reasons. YouTube can offer a way to preserve, disseminate, and promote the special collections and production videos. Examples:

Library Fun

There are a few videos produced by academic libraries that fall into the fun category. They can include video outtakes, the staff experimenting with video editing, or fun events held in the library. Some may deliver some informational content, but they are heavy on the amusement side. These videos are also a great way to introduce library staff and have a little fun.

Meet a Few Academic Libraries Who Use YouTube

The Art Institute of Washington Library

The Art Institute of Washington (AiW) is is a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta, and prepares students for a variety of careers in the visual and practical arts. In an interview with Miyo Davis, Library Technical Assistant at the AiW Library on November 15, 2008, she discusses some of the benefits her library has seen from using YouTube including receiving "attention for taking advantage of a relatively new and creative medium to promote our services". Davis goes onto say "it's been a fun, creative outlet for our student staff". AiW has videos on an array of topics like library etiquette, research, and job hunting. By viewing the videos, one can see their goals to promote the library's resources and offer research and information literacy instruction. "Help Me, Ninja Librarian!" has been their most popular offering with about 4500 views as of December 7, 2008 and it is quite humorous with a portrayal of a ninja librarian and a student in desperate need of research help. The content in their videos although geared toward their student population, has wider appeal with information literacy tips for any student. Davis confirms this with "our goals in using YouTube since then have been to promote the library's services to the students and staff and circulating our educational points to a larger audience". They hope to include a question on their next library survey to garner feedback about the YouTube videos. Davis notes the positive attention from the videos, but also states that their production can be challenging when balancing normal staff duties. All in all, their YouTube experience was rated by Davis as "excellent so far" and she notes that she has "found YouTube simple and straight forward to use and it needs very little maintenance".(personal correspondence, November 15, 2008)

The Art Institute of Washington Library's YouTube Channel

DePauw University Library

"YouTubeLibraryGroup" by Flickr user stephjoyous

Founded in 1837, DePauw University is located in Greencastle, Indiana and is a private, coeducational, residential, undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and School of Music. In an interview with Brooke Cox, Visual Resource Librarian at DePauw University, on December 1, 2008, she shared her experience with using YouTube. She mentions the benefits of using YouTube to be positive feedback from students, the chance to use video editing for library marketing purposes, opportunities to present at conferences, and "attention among our colleagues". The videos that DePauw produces are fun and often incorporate popular culture such as inferences to the Mac versus PC commercials. Their "DePauw University Libraries Visual Resource Center – Introduction" was a 2008 InfoTubey Awards Winner and has been viewed almost 7300 times as of December 7, 2008. Other video offerings mainly include marketing for their separate library branches. When asked who organizes this project, Cox replied "currently, it's whoever is interested" and "the marketing project is currently "run" by myself, Brooke Cox, visual resources librarian, Caroline Gilson, science librarian and associate director of libraries, and Jessica Bozeman, visual resources graduate intern" (personal correspondence, December 1, 2008). Their goal when using YouTube was to find "a way to reach students on our campus and thought YouTube would be the best platform for hosting our videos, because of its near ubiquitousness". One challenge that Cox cites is "measuring the impact the videos have on awareness and use of the branch libraries, which was our ultimate goal". She rated her experience "fairly positive" and notes "it's easy to use and we like how easily you can add the code for each video to other site". DePauw University Library's success with YouTube can be easily seen with their subscriptions and number of viewed videos. The partnership is solidified with Cox stating "we will continue to use YouTube to post other videos for both advertising and educational purposes".(personal correspondence, December 1, 2008)

DePauw University Library's YouTube Channel

University of Florida Library

The University of Florida became a university in 1905 and is located in Gainesville, Florida. This public university hosts a variety of academic disciplines and belongs to the Association of American Universities. In an interview with Laurie Taylor, a librarian at UF's George A. Smathers Libraries on November 7, 2008, she discussed the Digital Library Center that produced most of the 96 videos that UF Libraries has posted to YouTube. Other contributors to the YouTube content include UF Libraries Orientation Video Team and University of Florida Library staff. The videos range from historic walking tours in Florida to research database instructions to orientations on the many specialty campus libraries. Taylor states the main goal for their team in using YouTube is "digital preservation" on which they also upload to their own site and they "compensate for those wanting streaming" by also loading to YouTube. The appeal for this digital archive can be specific to stakeholders at UF, but also these videos encompass many topical area such as university history, Florida tourism, and rare book preservation that are easily accessible to a general audience with a YouTube search. "University of Florida, Adapting the Atom to Florida Progress" is a great example of a UF promotional film from 1962 that takes a look at UF's new and exciting nuclear science program. They mainly use YouTube to supplement their own website and rate their YouTube experience as "great" because it is an "easy and free streaming server". (personal correspondence, November 7, 2008)

University of Florida Library's YouTube Channel

How to YouTube

Finding a Balance

There is nothing wrong in creating a humorous or entertaining video, but in no way, shape, or form should educational content be sacrificed for pure entertainment value.
-Robert Monge from "Designing YouTube Instructional Videos to Enhance Information Literacy"

Videos should be fun and informative. Using a pinch of comedy can keep the attention of the viewer and create a buzz to invite feedback and “word of mouth” interest. Jack M. Maness (2007) agrees that video instruction creation "is not only about content, but form, not only pedagogy, but web design" (p.44). The content should be general in nature to provide for wider audience appeal. Keep in mind the next generation's propensity for multitasking and their waning attention spans. The need for audience appeal should be especially pertinent for engaging those viewing videos on YouTube. A balance must be met for information content, visual appeal, and approach when designing the video. Monge (2007) suggests using and linking to Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)'s "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" to meet information literacy standards as mentioned above (p. 56). In another chapter of EDUCAUSE's online book on "Educating the Net Generation";"Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing", Ben McNeely of North Carolina State University explains that creativity, innovation, and usability are all important in creating tools for education for the "Net Gen" students (para. 10).

Where to Begin: a Library Orientation Video

The most common YouTube video made by academic libraries is the library orientation video. For many higher education libraries, this is their first foray into video sharing. A YouTube library orientation video can establish your library’s online presence, advance the mission and vision of your library, and foster an environment that is committed to access and meeting the needs of your stakeholders. Library orientation videos can market and highlight the resources of the library to stakeholders in an easy to view venue. YouTube is free and offers ubiquitous access to students in a format that they are familiar with. These videos usually include the location of the library, typical patrons that use this library, what resources are in the library's holdings, equipment and work/study areas available, circulation policies, interviews with library staff, and what makes the library especially useful. Many college campuses have more than one library and this is a way to emphasize the unique ways a specific library can offer access to different information packages. The video is also a way to introduce library resources to new students or staff. It can also take the opportunity to market usage to those that have not previously taken advantage of the facilities.

This section will outline a few suggestions for creation and content of library orientation videos.

"YouTube Video Session" by Flickr user mstephens7

Getting Started

Equipment:

Computer
Digital Camcorder
Digital Camera
Internet Connection
Video Editing Software

Must Reads:

YouTube Handbook for tips and tricks for producing videos.
YouTube's Help Center for specifications and troubleshooting.

Planning Ideas:

Brainstorm on content
Find players
Create a storyboard and write a script
Get permission to film in areas needed
Finalize features and details
Rehearse
Film
Edit and add text, music, and photos
reshoot video as needed
Preview rough drafts and share for feedback
Upload final draft to YouTube
Market your video for patron usage

Content:

A library orientation video should welcome patrons to your library and introduce information for ease of access. The following video hopes to give some ideas on what to include.

"Let's Make a Video: Welcoming Patrons to the Library"

by: Melissa Del Castillo

by-nc-sa

Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) Creative Commons License

References

Ardito, S. C. (2007, June 5). Social Networking and Video Web Sites: MySpace and YouTube Meet the Copyright Cops. Searcher 15(5). Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/may07/Ardito.shtml.

Ariew, S. (2008, August). YouTube Culture and the Academic Library: A Guide to Online Open Access Educational Videos. Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 45(12), 2057-2063. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.cro2.org/default.aspx?page=reviewdisplay&pids=3390688.

Ayers, P. (2008). YouTube for fun and education. Slideshare. Retrieved December 1, 2008 from http://www.slideshare.net/cfbloke/youtube-for-fun-and-education.

Casey, M. and Stephens, M. (2008, January). Copy with Anonymity. Library Journal 133(1), 34.

Cloud, J. (2006, December 16).“The Gurus of YouTube,” Time. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570721,00.html.

Library Journal. (2008, August 14). Maybe No Palm D’Or this Year, but Cornell U. Library Videos Earn Raves. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/info/CA6587670.html.

Lippincott, J. K. (2005). Educating the Net Generation: Net Generation Students and Libraries. EDUCAUSE. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.educause.edu/Resources/EducatingtheNetGeneration/NetGenerationStudentsandLibrar/6067.

Maness, J.M. (2007, November 2). At the “Point-of-Need”: Usage Patterns of Streaming Video Tutorials. Brick and Click Libraries Symposium Proceedings. p. 36-45. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/27/f3/f7.pdf.

McNeely, B. (2005). Educating the Net Generation: Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing. EDUCAUSE. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.educause.edu/Resources/EducatingtheNetGeneration/UsingTechnologyasaLearningTool/6060.

Mitchell, E. and Watstein, S. B. (2007). The places where students and scholars work, collaborate, share and plan. Reference Services Review, 35(4), 521-524.

Monge, R. (2007, November 2). Designing YouTube Instructional Videos to Enhance Information Literacy. Brick and Click Libraries Symposium Proceedings. p. 54-60. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/27/f3/f7.pdf.

Trier, J. (2007, February). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 1. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 50(5), 408-12.

YouTube. (2008). YouTube Fact Sheet. Retrieved December 4, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/t/fact_sheet.

Resources

100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians: This portal of links to YouTube videos of that could be of special interest to librarians was created for distance learners. The videos are especially useful for higher education and include topics such as "Librarians and Technology","Outreach and Special Program Ideas", and "Using Databases".

ilovelibraries.org: Libraries on YouTube: Created by the ALA (American Library Association), this website features embedded YouTube videos produced by libraries on a variety of topics.

YouTube and Libraries Wiki: This wiki offers advice to librarians on how to use and create videos for YouTube. There are embedded YouTube videos created by libraries and encourages other librarians to register and add content.

Library Videos- the best of... Blog: This blog features posts on topics related to the use of videos and video making to libraries. There are pertinent links, archived discussions, embedded videos, and the blogger welcomes the posting of videos by other users.

Info Tubey.com: Congratulations! These annual awards are bestowed on the videos created by information organizations that successfully mix content and appeal.

"Digital Ethnography of YouTube project" Interested in the history and culture of YouTube? Check out these videos by Michael Wesch and the Digital Ethnography Working Group from Kansas State University.

Web Ink Now's "8 tips to make your YouTube video go viral": These tips are from blogger David Meerman Scott and can offer ways to spice up your instruction.

"Top Ten YouTube Tips and Tricks": The author of "YouTube 4 You", Michael Miller, "shares ten tips and tricks to help you better view and share YouTube videos".

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