We are often so busy in library with the everyday business that we don’t make time to promote the wonderful resources we offer… and then we wonder why no one uses them.

Last year our district finally was able to purchase a subscription for K-12 to use the EBSCOhost online databases. Technical difficulties (ours, not EBSCO’s) kept us from making good use of it last year. So to promote the resource THIS year, our district’s professional librarians met in early August to write an “infomercial” to present to the faculty of the district. We spent a day writing and about half a day filming. To put the movie together we used Windows Movie Maker.  It comes with Windows and while the program has limitations, it is free and can get the message out.

Judge for yourselves…

EBSCOhost “infomercial”

We intend to present this at faculty meetings around the district!  The few teachers who have previewed it have totally enjoyed it so there is a good buzz going.

Of course, we will need to offer further training on using this product, but the purpose of our video was to inform, entertain, and entice them to use the subscription service.  We also plan to offer prizes this year, with teacher’s names being entered into a drawing each time they use this resource with their students. 

Now that’s the power of not one, not two, but three creative librarians!