Saturday, January 14, 2012

More video in the library

One of the websites most often blocked in school libraries is YouTube, yet this is one of the most popular sites for both children and adults. It offers videos that can be great resources for school projects and class presentations. And YouTube is working hard to tailor the site for specific audiences. A recent article in School Library Journal reports on the YouTube school site that offers a collection of educational videos for elementary and high school students. The site offers a wide range of videos that can easily be incorporated into classroom lessons. They can also be used by individual students either in the school library or public libraries. Yet still the fear of school authorities for allowing students free access continues to block this asset from many schools. As SLJ reports, many school librarians have been told they may not use this resource in their school. Instead of being allowed to see these videos from a safe site at school, they will have to go home and look them up on the general YouTube site where they may discover exactly the content some parents and teachers don't want them to see. When will we learn that we cannot restrict children today to the narrow confines of information they had access to in years past? Librarians should work hard to make appropriate sites like YouTube/Schools available to all children in school and public libraries. An access policy based on fear does not serve our children well.

In an age of streaming visual content, YouTube has carved a niche for itself which grows bigger year by year. To understand this phenomenon, take a look at John Seabrook's article in the New Yorker which details the way YouTube was started, how it has grown and where it is heading. The future may not be exactly as planned, but it looks certain that YouTube has a future and parents, teachers and librarians had better prepare to make the most of it instead of futilely trying to keep it away from children.

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