StoryTubes, the two-minute or shorter “my favorite book” video project, offers to dynamically increase interest in reading by connecting kids to other kids about books. Kids and their favorite books star in their own self-made videos for fun and prizes. It strengthens and establishes new relationships with technology and libraries.[Denise Raleigh is the Director of Marketing, Development & Communications at Gail Borden Public Library District, 270 North Grove, Elgin IL 60120. Her e-mail address is: draleigh@gmail.com]
The project is for young people, ages kindergarten through high school.
The goal is energize kids’ interest in reading. The project attracts young people to an extremely creative and fun technology- based project that ultimately connects them to each other about books. It uses kids’ interest in media to fuel a core activity-- reading. StoryTubes is futuristic and inspires creativity, literacy and technological experimentation.
StoryTubes started in 2007 at Gail Borden Public Library so that local kids could use technology to talk about stories. Kids were thrilled to be the stars of their own movies and have a chance to win prizes. With their parents' permission, they filmed themselves talking about their favorite books and uploaded the videos to YouTube. Several thousand people viewed the videos at http://www.storytubes.info and voted for favorites. Online votes came in from all around the world. In 2008, kids from all over the U.S. spoke passionately about their favorite books as partner libraries from across the contiguous United States came aboard. In 2009, there were over 400 entrants including entries from Canada and Alaska. Googling “StoryTubes” returns over 27,000 links.
The contest prizes include books provided by publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, DK, Charlesbridge Publishing, Harper Collins and Little Brown as well as cameras provided by Sony. The chance to win one of these prizes added excitement to the competition.
In its second year, StoryTubes expanded into new territory with the addition of Alaska and Canadian partners, Juneau Public Libraries and Annapolis Valley Regional Library in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. Other partners that helped make StoryTubes 2009 a success were Buffalo and Erie County Public Library of Buffalo, NY; Middle Country Public Library of Centereach, NY; The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County/ImaginOn, Charlotte, NC; Washington-Centerville Public Library of Centerville, OH; Gail Borden Public Library of Elgin, IL; and Harris County Public Library of Houston, TX.
Currently, the marketing has been of a low cost effective campaign using both virtual and in- person channels.
Eblasts are sent to
• bloggers all over North America
• state and province library associations
• school associations
• library associations – please see educators’ testimonials at http://www.storytubes.info/
• Children’s Book Council
Viral voting determines some of the winners of the smaller prizes. This component creates local and Internet buzz. One teacher described the scene in her hometown as, "...people were stopping in grocery stores to ask each other if they had voted for Jared that day." During May of 2008, the StoryTubes web site averaged 1,037 pages per day and 1,301 hits per hour. The StoryTubes web site pages were viewed over 150,000 times during the contest. .
We Plan to Create a Legacy - An organically growing database of creative book recommendations will allow the children of today’s youth to watch their parents. StoryTubes will create a creative literary legacy for tomorrow.
Costs – The beauty of this project is its minimal cost for entrants. The video can be filmed by phone, digital camera, webcam or video camera. There are many free videoing editing programs such as Windows Movie Maker and Apple’s iMovie. Libraries are the perfect partners for this project due to their role as providers of technology access. Both YouTube and TeacherTube are free video hosts. Time and creativity are the major costs. The StoryTubes web site has video “How tos” such as the one below at http://www.storytubes.info/categories/what_is_storytubes.html
Distribution is worldwide wherever there is an internet connection whether by phone, gaming device or computer.
By kids, for kids, it is all about connecting them to stories. Visit www.storytubes.info now as the contest is in full swing and watch kids in 2010 express their passion for books to others worldwide.
