If You’re Truly Local…

I love this posting from ALA – unscrupolously re-printed here:
Loan and Network Your Teens’ Creative Content with “Community Reserve“In Audiobooks
The other day, my boss asked if I knew any local teen bands, singers, or hip-hop artists.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Why?”
“So libraries can loan out their MP3s.”
“Wait, huh?”
If you had the same response as me, then you might not know about OverDrive’s Community Reserve service. Overdrive-subscribed libraries can upload teens’ full albums, rough demos, or bedroom recordings. They’ll be available to not only your users, but also those of all other libraries who subscribe to Overdrive.
That doesn’t just go for music, either. If local teens publish an eBook or audiobook–or if they produce their own videos–that digital content can be uploaded as well. The major downside is, of course, that since there is no additional cost to the library to add this content, the content providers aren’t getting paid. Also–for audio and video at least–Overdrive is still locked into using Windows Media (.wma & .wmv) files, which aren’t compatible with teens’ iPods (yet, gosh darnit).
But, despite all the setbacks, if teens are looking for new ways to distribute their content, this can be an opportunity for them to do just that. Whether they’ll be interested considering what they can already do with iTunes, iMeem, Myspace, Last.FM, iLike, Purevolume, GarageBand and other promotional services remains to be seen. If you are already utilizing this service, I’m really interested to see how it’s going.
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Cool. So how many libraries out there are collecting links to local bands’ MySpace sites?
Are you ready to collect this local history, oral history, and more? Does something have to be old or antique to have value? Probably not.
You have a tool to make this content discoverable in your OPAC. You can build webpages of locally interesting stuff. I kow some libraries host scanning parties where local citizens bring in their historic pictures and scan them for the library’s repository. It doesn’t have to be teen content. Although I love the idea that a major band is discovered and promoted by their local library before they sign a major recording contract! Then again, maybe the open access movement to libraries is like Indie bands to music.
This could be a byproduct of your searches to discover local bands for a Rock The Shelves event….
Hmmmmm
Stephen