The Library Minute

The ASU 'library minute' presentations are examples of how to capture an audience, through visual and audible entertainment and feed informative and promotional messages about the libraries functions and key features. As these presentations reach their audience, the value of service provided increases through a discovery or reminder of the service plus the added benefit of a memorable imprint in the mind thanks to the mixture of a range of visual and audio learning techniques.

The Library minute is tightly wrapped up with concise points (eg. 'Top 5 Resources for Online Students'), visual examples (such as the laptop theft in 'Security'), effective imagery (such as the visual of the 'Holy Grail' in 'Academic Articles') humorous video clips and music used throughout and also the use of words flashing up on the screen to further imprint their message. The use of a short space of time is also beneficial for attention span and useful to attract busy students.

The clips only present a few points at a time, added together it is possible that they would not have the same impact or maintain interest. The main points presented have on some occasions been covered in more detail in their own Library Minutes, for example there is a 'Academic Articles' and also a 'EBSCO Academic Search Premier' showing the users how to access the academic articles. As they slowly build up the short episodes, users are lead into more detailed information.

The videos are pesented on the ASU website and on Youtube with the ability to subscribe via RSS, supporting the open access style of Web 2.0. They are also clearly user oriented targeting students and their youthful and fun lifestyle whilst supporting their information needs and encouraging their entrance into the academic library environment. The library minute incorporates the 4 C's of social media by the public access and its consultation with its users - ie conversation (or communication) and community.

Other Web 2.0 facilities available through the ASU Library Channel include, RSS feeds to new news realeases or Library Minutes, a Library Blog and twitter all contributing to collaboration, conversation, community and content creation because of the interaction it draws from the users and library staff. The ability to comment or share services and socialise creates network connections useful in providing relevent and useful information to the students whilst also expressing policies and the reasons for them from the librarians point of view.



NB - The four C's of Web 2.0 being collaboration, conversation, community and content creation.