An Author's Perspective

Watched a YouTube video by Alexander McCall Smith about the third book in his series The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Blue Shoes and Happiness. As he talked about specific things he mentions in the book (bush tea, ivory and elephants), short clips were screened from the television series. Apparently, Bush Tea, which was largely unheard of before he mentioned it in his books, is now quite popular! He has a very obvious high regard for Botswana and it was fascinating to hear about and see some of the game reserves, animals and people that have been interwoven into his stories.

I then found an interview with Philippa Gregory promoting her latest book The White Queen. Even though it was a promotional clip, her passion for history was evident by her demeanour and tone of voice. She looked much younger than I had imagined her to be. The short passage she read from the book inspired me to request it but it looks as though I may have a long wait!

Being able to see an author, hear how he speaks and get a feeling for his interest and enthusiasm adds a new dimension to a book. It would be good to demonstrate some of the videos/podcasts available at a Book Chat and show patrons how they can search themselves for interviews with authors.

Specialist Search Engines

Using the search terms ‘orcas AND whale AND NOT island’ turned up 8,000 videos on Blinx and 4,850 on YouTube. I liked the rating system on YouTube and the fact that I could see when it was uploaded, how long it was and how many times it had been viewed. In contrast, Blinx only advised length and when uploaded. It is useful to have all this extra information about searching for video clips, even though I’m not sure how often I will use it … what I really need now is a patron to ask the right question!

Was unable to find Time magazine – could only locate Time books but did search the magazine Better Nutrition for ‘apples’. I was very impressed by being able to select a magazine and read it online. I had a look at an article ‘Sharing Heirlooms with Children’ in Ancestry magazine, Mar-Apr 2004. From a library point of view, this is an excellent way of sourcing articles of specific interest for patrons. It is also a great way to preview a magazine prior to purchase.

Twitter, an Introduction

Had heard of Twitter but not tried to access it so it was good to have a reason to go there. However, having been there, I’m not sure whether it’s for me. I’m happy using emails and texts and even the good, old-fashioned telephone, so am not really interested in twittering friends and family, and the internet gives me access to sufficient other information. This YouTube clip Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews! sums up twittering rather nicely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

Accessed two Twitter accounts - Meg Cabot and Cookbook via Twitter. Was disappointed by the Meg Cabot tweets – they didn’t mean anything and it was necessary to open the links in order to discover what each tweet was about. Felt this defeated the purpose of a short message and also proved to be very time consuming. Many of the other Twitter accounts proved to be similar - headlines only with links to blogs or newspaper articles.

Cookbook via Twitter was much more interesting. This is more what I expected to see, after having read the description of Twitter. Liked the way recipes were abbreviated – simple and to the point! Might try some out some day!

Discovering You Tube

I finally took the plunge and signed up for a You Tube account. Now, not only can I view video clips but I can email them to others. Not sure how often I'll use this new ability - am not really interested in trawling through most of the stuff posted on You Tube - and long ago tired of the novelty of watching most of the stuff others email to me. But ... I have had fun finding this video and embedding it in my blog. I think it is a great marketing tool for ASU Libraries and something similar would be good to have on our library website.