re SCREENCASTS

Much of my job is development of a video/DVD collection. With screencasts it would be interesting to have the studio rights to previews of movies. Several of our branch locations subscribe to licenses in order to show full movies at the library; perhaps the studios would grant previews for such showings. Themes are often chosen for the branch showings. Anime clubs show films at two locations, and another branch chooses a yearly theme such as screen legends, or great film duos to show.

Also, it would be interesting if screen casts of previews of less popular, but important films and documentaries could be previewed. "Have you seen?"

The Screencasts at U of Calgary and Central Michigan are quite interesting. Just as we have learned from the broadcasts from Project Play, users of these websites can obtain training on by clicking on the tool bar. I especially liked the U of Calgary explanation of ProQuest's Dissertations retrieval. The commentary helped to clarify the Byzantine nature of document retrieval. Thus, when a library buys a service such as ProQuest, a Screencast can help users get past barriers to use of the product. In this way, the library doesn't look "stupid" about products provided to the public.

Further, Screencasts are a powerful learning tool for library users. The moving image is best for many learners. Thus, supplementing text only approaches is very, very useful for libraries. Yet another tool in the mixed media of computers and library tradition.