Thursday, September 23, 2010

Survive, How to

The best way to make the case that your library is underfunded, understaffed, and overworked is to spend a lot of money, staff, and time producing a YouTube video that explains how busy you are.  If you are successful, maybe your video will result in funding for a key grip librarian.  Or an editor.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is getting so bad that I only have enough time to make one pithy remark on one "work related" blog per day.

Dax said...

And that is the "short" version.

Anonymous said...

Public librarians...
figures.

Anonymous said...

I don't think they got paid for this--they have the maniacal look of librarians after hours.

Michael Huff said...

Very catty post. I wrote to the library that put it together, and a) they did it off the clock, volunteering their time like for so many other projects, b) production of a video is *not* expensive these days, given the ubiquity of editing software and inexpensive hand-cams, and c) the video was originally done as a morale booster for a staff development day that they hold once annually. So, the snide comments in your post are unfounded and profoundly unintelligent. Do your research next time before jumping to conclusions.

Anonymous said...

Jiminy willikers, a tad huffy, aren't we?

Ah, puns.

I agree with Anon #3. A LOT simpler and much more amusing than the comment above.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm! Staff Development Day! I thought that there were too many employees for one little library.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that all took place in one "one little library." If you watch the credits it looks like 8 or 9 branches in 3 counties.

Anonymous said...

The *last* thing you want your city council or tax paying public to see is the staff of the well-stocked, local library dancing around in a video that went viral..like this one. Especially when the singers keep singing about surviving just fine despite budget cuts. And ESPECIALLY since the public wouldn't know that it wasn't on staff time. It's just plain BAD public relations. And it's happening waaaay too much in the library world.

Mike said...

Quit dancing and get back to work!

Anonymous said...

I think dinosaurs made a similar video before they became extinct.

finally_a_librarian said...

Full moon. Brings out the snottier annonyi people.

Anonymous said...

Those who think that it's bad to see librarians full of hope and enthusiasm may be over-thinking it. Reading the comments on YouTube for both versions it looks like people are impressed with these librarians and don't find that their energy invalidates their budget woes. Isn't it possible to make both arguments - libraries are vital to the public WHILE they're being undercut by slashed budgets?