Thursday, September 29, 2011

Why I Need my High School Library



I remember the first time I'd heard of YouTube. I was working on my second Bachelor's Degree for Social Studies Education at Fredonia State and I was involved in a great discussion on the Global Economy. Our teacher routinely showed us videos made by his professor friends at UCLA. One day as he's ready to show us a video, he talks about pirating videos and how his friend doesn't want his video to be stolen and put on YouTube. I had no idea what YouTube was. I was a meager college student, without cable or Internet, and most of my time was dedicated to working, studying, and trying to have a social and professional life. I raised my hand to ask about YouTube and people actually laughed at me. Well, I've come a long way baby. As an self-described information junkie or 'infomaniac' , I love to search the web for topics as they pop into my head. This includes: 'I wonder how George Washington died?', 'Does anyone else remember the cartoon Jem?', 'Did the Buffalo Bills make the playoffs in the last ten years?'....it goes on and on. Well, I actually needed a clip for a class I was teaching. I wanted School House Rock. Low and behold, it was just a couple clicks away and I could show the class 'how a bill becomes a law'.

Whether it is for research, school, or fun, video sharing is pretty cool. Yes, yes, yes I am aware of copyright issues. I took a class all about it. I never, ever, watch pirated videos, movies, etc. I am strongly against that. Seriously, I am. However, I can still use lots of great free videos on the Internet from video sharing sites that will benefit students in my library and school. There's alot of original book talks, lessons, and other educational videos I can use to make my library a better learning center. There's also of junk, which I can teach my students and fellow staff members to avoid. (That's a whole other blog post.) The bottom line is that video sharing has great uses and it's users and producers need to be responsible.

I love this video because its a student created video about how great high school libraries are now and forever. It's quirky, original, and fun. Yayy for students who did this and yayy to ALA for recognizing their talents.

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