Super Dooper! CI library goes Youtubing!

Web 2.0 technologies have made it easier for library staff to make digital content for their clients without needing to recruit technical help. Furthermore, by creating our own digital objects that harness the flexibility of Web 2.0 technologies, we can bridge the gap between what people think libraries are, and what we really are and would like to be to our clients. This paper will describe the creation of an audiovisual library tour- but not your average audiovisual library tour! The video aimed to be a highly visual experience - fast and fun and flexible, and yet still as informative as a traditional library tour. It was tailor made for commencing Creative Industries students and combines a low-tech, DIY aesthetic with a tongue-in-cheek, casual approach. The finished video was then loaded to YouTube where it is available for viewing, or embedding into online learning and teaching systems and Faculty web pages - effectively reversing the roles and taking the library tour to the students. In making the clip, the Creative Industries library team hoped to give these tech-savvy, and creative minded students an alternate experience of the library- one that appealed to their own sensibilities and broke away from the expected corporate mould. We discuss the video from initial inception of the idea, through the technologies and the headaches, and finally to the discussions that it sparked amongst library and faculty staff. Following the release of the video, we have collated responses and reactions from test audiences and have been interested in some of the questions that the work has raised. Many of these questions relate to wider debates surrounding the adoption of a "library 2.0." approach as a whole, which we will address through the lens of the experience of creating the video tour. The paper also discusses the theory that supports our video tour, including the rise of Gen Y in our universities, and the flexibility and allure of YouTube as a library tool.