Method 6: borrowing videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmLibraryAssociation#p/u/0/p391LrydfEs

This is my first attempt to embed a YouTube video. Yay! I actually did it!
I was really interested in Dr. Michael Wesch's "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube". I understand the phenomena much better now. His comments on the development of connections through YouTube reminded me of the connections developed on the writers listserv "The Spoon" some years before YouTube appeared. We developed a community feeling so strong that members began to visit each other, there was a collage picture made of the members, we sent around a tape and various members added music to it, several members met annually, members exchanged private emails as well as public exchanges on the listserv. When one of the members died of cancer, all the community joined in mourning as if she had been a personal acquaintance -- and she had been, through sharing herself through stories. One person I became acquainted with visited in Texas twice and on the second trip brought a seedling tree as a gift to me -- the tree having been from one planted by his father that was the subject of a story he had sent to the listserv. It appears to be the same type of connection that some contributors to YouTube have established. Having had that experience, I certainly identified with what Dr. Wesch was saying.
Watching the the growth of YouTube also explained to me what I see with a nephew in Nashville who is sharing his music and songs through YouTube. I didn't understand the self reflexive tone that he takes as he shares -- it seemed rather more intimate than I expected. After listening to Dr. Wesch, I see that my nephew is right in tune with what is happening with our new way of connecting.

I can think of many ways libraries can use YouTube to call attention to programming, and even to produce their own programming. My first impression, that people would seldom watch a library video is definitely the wrong impression. Certainly libraries can upload videos and embed them on their webpages and make very exciting connections.