Pandemic Library, Episode 1: Into the Vlogosphere

-
So the other day, Mr. Durgin, CMS's intrepid principal, suggested that I consider starting a library vlog as a way to remind students of library checkout times and weekly library challenges.

My initial reaction was an immediate and emphatic "No!" And then I thought it through. The vlog would be primarily for middle school students, many of whom love making and watching videos. Maybe I could inspire them to be guest vloggers.

My sister suggested wearing a different hat each time. I thought about playing a tune on the ukulele. Maybe, I thought, this could be fun.

I decided to name the vlog "Pandemic Library." Kind of catchy, in a current events, dystopian way.

It turns out that making a video is harder than I thought. Not that I thought it would be easy, but I had never made one before, and let's just say that there were technical challenges.

More than that, there were creative issues. And speaking issues. And organization and editing issues. There were even how-to-hold-the-phone-while-videoing issues, as you will see.

Nevertheless, I am publishing this post, with a link to the video I made today. Please save us all from more bad video by creating a video of your own and becoming a guest vlogger on Pandemic Library.

Click on the link: Pandemic Library.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 6, 2020 at 4:06 PM

    Great job with the virtual #SocialDistancing :) I miss the library!!! But I like the virtual Pandemic Library too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ask a Librarian: Answers You Won't Get From Google: Science Friday

-
Just about all of the questions for this week's post are science-related. That's only fitting, since just yesterday I watched my nephew defend his doctoral thesis during a Zoom presentation. His topic? "Lend me some sugar: how plysacharides and pleomorphism drive the dissemination of a fungal pathogen." I don't understand it, either. That fungal pathogen, by the way, is Cryptococcus neoformans. It will turn your brain into cottage cheese, basically, if you get it. The takeaway here is to beware of fungal pathogens. Just in case you were wondering. And thanks to Pam, my favorite sister, for helping me answer this week's questions so that I could go for a hike. The first question comes from "Unknown" in a reply to a recent blog post: "Do scientists like mutants?" Thanks for asking, "Unknown." You could have asked our nephew Steven; he's a real scientist.  (This question actually comes from my brother, who, contrary to what I use
Read more

Ask a Naturalist: Part 1

-
The "Ask a Librarian" questions were certainly fun for me to answer, and I will continue to respond to those questions from time to time. However, while working on a recent blog post ( Pandemic Librarian Gets Back to Nature ), it occurred to me that I could fill a need that all hikers have at some point. I am, of course, referring to how convenient it would be to have a botanist with me whenever I'm hiking. That way, I could ask him or her about the plants along the trail. I do have a couple of botanist friends, but they don't always answer right away when I send them texts with photos of some plant or another. I won't answer your questions right away, either - but like "Ask a Librarian," the answers to your questions to the natural world will not be ones you can find with any kind of Google search, or any other reputable database, for that matter. So, without further ado, here are the first questions. The first question comes from Eowyn, who ask
Read more

Ask a Librarian: Answers You Won't Get From Google: Odds and Ends

-
Some questions fell through the digital cracks and I am just now getting around to answering them. Sorry, folks - too much screen time for this librarian! Let's begin with James, who asked, " What is the weirdest place you've ever been? If you could would you go back?" For the longest time I thought that Columbus, Ohio was the strangest place I had ever been. No mountains, no Great Plains, and so much humidity that some summers I never felt completely dry. People there crazy about a football team, Ohio State, whose mascot is a buckeye, which is the name of a poisonous nut from the buckeye tree. On football Saturdays, many of the crazies in attendance wore necklaces made of buckeye candy, a lethal combination of milk chocolate and peanut butter that left people well on their way to a sugar crash. Now that I think of it, the whole Midwest is just weird. Consider the Big 10 Conference, which has 14 schools. Really. Universities  that apparently can't count. And the m
Read more