Monday, April 13, 2020

"How to Do a Virtual Storytime" Webinars

For many of us, doing virtual storytimes is a new skill that we are working on.

But, no worries. Two state level agencies and a university have your back with great practical webinars and resources with tech tips; fair use information; and practical approaches to help you -whether programming during the pandemic or after.

And remember everyone, as you think about virtual storytimes,  you do you. Make the length, content, and experience one that fits YOUR community and YOUR bandwidth. Definitely channel your best judgement on length and content.

CLEL (CO Libraries for Early Literacy) produced a 90 minute webinar 4/10/20. Topics include: during-the-pandemic and post-pandemic permissions and fair use tips; public domain songs; filming tips; presentation tips (pacing; enthusiasm; etc); tech tips on lighting, camera placement and social media promotion; accessibility and diversity issues; ideas for the different levels of support that leadership; your library marketers and storytime staff can do.


Arizona State Library produced a 41 minute webinar 4/7/20. Covered topics: choosing between platforms - pros and cons; tech tips on cameras, placement; presentation tips; the reasons why you might choose to do an online storytimes.



University of Wisconsin Madison iSchool CE Dept. (Scroll down to the March 25th webinar once you get the UW page) produced a 60 minute webinar 3/25/20 with tips on reaching out into your community and online programming including storytime. Topics included: planning; promotion; outreach; partnership opportunities with community organizations; fair use and permissions; virtual storytime and programming best practices; resources.

2 comments:

Kathy said...

Melanie Borski-Howard talks about copyright in the CLEL webinar mentioned above. Additional info is available in her book, Storytime and Beyond:Having Fun with Early Literacy, published in 2018 by Libraries Unlimited/ABC-CLIO. As her co-author, I'm happy to report that our publisher has just authorized a 20% discount, good through 6/30/2020. https://products.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5545P  Enter the Promo Code Q22020.  Winner of a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in the Activity Book category, Storytime and Beyond makes a great gift not only for librarians and teachers, but for anyone who has suddenly turned into a homeschooler!

Amy said...

Thank you! This is so helpful! I am doing a practice storytime on Zoom for some friends' kids this week before our library officially launches our live virtual programming, so I'm desperately trying to plan and learn right now. We've been doing pre-recorded videos, but the thought of LIVE is a whole 'nother animal...lol..