Thing 20: YouTube

I found the most helpful YouTube search term to be "library services"; The term "academic library" yielded results that were ok, but the first few results seemed to be more visual tours of various libraries. The search term "library services", on the other hand, yielded more useful information that patrons could potentially use.

Such videos would serve patrons best if integrated into another platform, like a library's blog or at least its homepage or a link from its homepage. Just having your library videos "out there" on its own YouTube channel is not enough. You have to "push" them where your patrons are most likely to see them. Still, hosting them on YouTube is a good idea, since it frees up server space on local computing networks. Librarians do need to be mindful of copyright restrictions on background audio content, however. If you upload a video with a popular song from a recording artist as the main or even background audio content, it's highly likely that YouTube will find out (via automated process or user flagging) and either take the video down or at least silence the audio. Luckily, YouTube offers an "audio swap" feature if you should make this common user mistake. This will allow you to provide a substitute audio track with music specifically licensed for broadcast on YouTube; if your offending audio content was background music with a voiceover, you may have to completely rework your audio track so that only the voiceover plays, or swap the audio for a licensed track, re-download the modified file, and the add the voiceover manually with editing software, then re-upload the file.

It is also possible to create simple animations via the free website Xtranormal.com and then publish them to your YouTube channel. These might be useful for short animations describing library hours of operations, fine rates, checkout periods, etc. You could even use a particular character over and over and use her as the library digital spokesperson or mascot. Get creative! If you link your Xtranormal account together with your YouTube channel, the result is usually seamless interaction and it is easy to upload from Xtranormal to YouTube. You can also remix Xtranormal animations with live action for a library Q&A or FAQ type of video with actual patrons. Patrons could ask a question on camera, and this could either be answered by a staff member on camera, or else via an animated character.

YouTube is an amazing platform and many think of it as the "public place in cyberspace", sort of a virtual Hyde Park or other Free Speech Zone. However, YouTube is a owned by Google, a corporation. It has its own "terms of service" and rules. Most of these are common sense, but in more heated areas of public discourse, on hot-button topics, abuse of the rules has led to charges of censorship; Some terms you may hear include "false flagging", "false DMCA", etc. "False flagging" is a term used to describe a situation where a video is unfairly "flagged" as offensive, when the content is in fact fairly innocuous, but the flagger merely strongly disagrees with the content of the message. This restricts the video to users who are willing to confirm they are 18 or older. When done maliciously, it is a way to restrict the target audience of the video. "False DMCA" means filing a knowingly false DMCA copyright claim against a video, which forces YouTube's hand; They must immediately pull down the video; that's the law and they have no choice. It is possible to file a counter-notice if the video can be claimed to be Fair Use, or if the person who filed the DMCA did not actually own the copyright for the alleged infringing material. YouTube will restore videos if it is determined a DMCA claim is without merit; if someone gets multiple DMCA claims filed against them within a short period of time, this can lead to one's channel being suspended; not a good thing. It should be noted that filing a false DMCA is very serious business, as to knowingly file a false DMCA claim is to commit perjury under U.S. law. See the case of YouTube user "Venom Fang X" for an instructive lesson in this, especially the video "Venom Fang X apologizes to the Internet". VFX is/was a virulent "Young Earth Creationist" and notorious for all the censorious abuses of YouTube, especially the false DMCA claims.

I've been observing the ongoing "Culture War" on YouTube between the "Young Earth Creationist" Christian YouTubers (and some other religious creationists, but mostly those of the Christian variety) and YouTube's Atheist community. The YouTube Atheist community is often at a tactical disadvantage because they take the high road, while their opposition frequently resorts to "false flagging", "false DMCAs", and also something else called "votebotting". A "votebot" is a piece of software that generates massive amounts of negative (or positive) "votes" on YouTube (one star to five star) and drives down (or up) a video's visibility on YouTube. The YouTube Atheist community has repeatedly suffered "votebot attacks", where some or all of their videos are subjected to a flood of one-star "sabotage" reviews via these automated processes, effectively "burying" their video, making it very difficult for users of YouTube to find by merely surfing YouTube.

Full disclosure, I am not a disinterested observer, but an actual minor partisan in this conflict; I'm usually too camera shy to appear in person, but I do create polemical Xtranormal animations for our side. Most of the videos on my channel are old footage from my High School years, and old home movies at Christmas time, etc, but my more recent work has been my Xtranormal animations. Obviously if you are going to create YouTube videos for library work, you should create an official YouTube channel for your library rather than relying on the personal channels of library staff. You want to clearly separate the Library's videos from the personal videos of library staff, where opinions expressed may or may not accurately represent the view of the library or the host institution of that library.

In conclusion, YouTube has great potential for explaining library services to patrons in a fun, entertaining, and visually stimulating way. Use of comedy is definitely recommended, as in the video embedded above.