Hey everyone,

I'm putting this out into the ether again to see if any (school, public, academic) libraries are interested in collaborating for a third year on Summer Reading Videos for social media. I'm happy to organize it again, but this year I unfortunately won't have any time to edit the videos or check in with people who signed up for parts but haven't submitted anything. So someone will hopefully volunteer to do these things.

I'm super grateful to the library staff who helped combine and edit all the videos last year. And especially to the participating libraries. They're super fun videos! This was all originally inspired by the awesome Freedom to Read video. Here's one of the videos we made the first year specifically for youth. This is the general one from two years ago. You can see last year's videos here: Color Our World Theme 1, Color Our World Theme 2, General (all ages), Youth/families, and a short & fun video.

If you're interested in voluntarily collaborating again, please fill out this Google Form. I'll send the Google Sheet link to everyone who signs up but give me about a week or so. It will contain a link to a shared Google Folder for uploading logos and video recordings, a timeline of production and deadlines, and separate tabs with scripts for different videos you may want to contribute to (you can also help write scripts!).

*As in the previous two years, please try not to sign up for more than one part of a video so that all interested libraries can claim a part.*

FYI: If you're interested, keep a few things in mind:

Portrait orientation is best
You do not have to be a super talented videographer or have fancy equipment to participate.
Use lots of light
Use microphones, especially if you will be in a public area during library hours or standing further from the camera, or will be quiet
Use mirror style on your camera when recording selfie-style so that any printed text appears correctly for viewers.
MP4 and MOV are the best video formats for splicing everything together
Do not add captions to your video, this will be done at the end when all videos are combined (using the same font across every video ensures consistency).

I hope that by the end of our production time, all videos will be ready, and I'll send another email sharing them with everyone.

Thanks,

Katie Rothley

My working day may not be your working day. Please do not feel obligated to reply to this email outside of your normal working hours.