Picture this: you just bought your first apartment and are living hours and hours away from your parents. Yay freedom! However, the first week into your lease the toilet won’t stop running. Obviously, you have no money and can’t hire a plumber. What do you do? You go to Youtube and watch a How-To video on fixing your toilet. I have to admit, this is a true story and I can confidently say that I can fix many plumbing issues with the help of a wrench, some tape, and a good Youtube video. Before video-streaming platforms, if you needed to figure out how to do something you either had to convince someone to show you or outsource the job completely to a professional. Not anymore! Now you can do all of the home improvement jobs yourself at the cost of a few supplies and bandaged fingers. I never said it was totally safe, just way more self-reliant. YouTube provides a vast virtual community with information-sharing capabilities at no cost and in a fast, user friendly way. Anyone can start their own channel and begin uploading videos of a topic they are an expert in, enjoy discussing, or interacting with. The subcategories of videos available to stream are endless and can include, but are not limited to, beauty product reviews, vehicle maintenance tutorials, homework help, people eating crab legs (keyword search: ASMR), and babies playing with dogs. About a decade ago, I can recall using Youtube primarily to watch vines and music videos. It never occurred to me the extent to which the uploading and streaming service could be used for educational and informational purposes.
Libraries have the distinct ability to set themselves on the forefront of information accessibility and one of those ways is to capitalize on free communication channels. YouTube is a great foundation for this. By creating video tutorials for using library databases, navigating the stacks, or clicking through the library website, you’re giving patrons the autonomy to learn at their own pace and be able to take in that information anywhere. For example, let’s say the library has a new resource to offer to users and they want to provide some tips on how to use it. Instead of hosting an in-person workshop, record a webinar or instructional video and post it on your YouTube channel for all patrons to access at any time. The webinar can then be cross-posted on all of the social media platforms as a highlight and link for patrons to check out. Provide a breakdown of why you think they should watch the video and also invite feedback. Patrons will be more likely to engage with the content if they have buy-in. Adding a quick survey to the end of each video the library creates and posts is a great way to get feedback on if the video was helpful and what types of tutorials patrons would be most interested in seeing next. Information access is our name and helping patrons better understand library services and resources is our game. Ready, Player One?

Check out more about how libraries use YouTube here!

You can also check out my channel and a tutorial on how to navigate a really cool database below. Thanks for watching!