The Magic of the Library - A Fun Presentation of The University of Bergen Library
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A Fun Presentation of The University of Bergen Library.
Tags: uib university library bergen norway fun seven wonders mount everest love romance picture collection books jade h?rem aksnes stian hafstad olav ?yehaug svein selvik
Added: 3 years ago
From: BergenUB
Views: 16,029
["The University of Bergen Library" appears on screen, as the scene opens with an elderly man ("Ole Gunnar Evensen, Head of Acquisitions") speaking directly to the camera]
OLE: Information is incredibly fascinating. Take, for example, the number seven. You may know that, during antiquity, the world had Seven Wonders.
[cardboard cut-outs of the Seven Wonders of the World pop up behind him]
OLE: One of those was the Lighthouse of Pharos, outside of Alexandria, which was destroyed by an earthquake.
[the camera shakes, and the cut-out of the lighthouse falls over]
OLE: The ancient Library of Alexandria was not one of the Seven Wonders, but it is said to have been the world's largest library!
[a giant cut-out of the library rises up behind him]
OLE: The University of Bergen Library is not the largest in the world, but it has ... yes, exactly!
[still images of the library pop up behind him]
OLE: Seven departments, which give you the information you need!
[cut to the man standing inside the University of Bergen library]
OLE: The selection is enormous! With almost two million books and journals ...
[cut to the man standing on the top of a mountain, dressed in a parka and holding the Norwegian flag, as he is pelted with snow and wind]
OLE: [yelling] If you pile all these on top of each other, it would be just as high as Mount Everest!
[the camera zooms out to reveal that he's not standing on a mountaintop, but rather a (rickety) pile of books, then cut to the man back inside the library]
OLE: Around one hundred people are employed here.
[several copies of the man suddenly pop up on screen]
OLE: To make sure that we are your best source of information!
[cut to the man slowly walking through the stacks]
OLE: Digging up information in the library feels like going back in time ... In the library's special collections, one can find books and diplomas from as far back as the thirteenth century.
[he passes behind one of the shelves, and is suddenly transported to the Special Collections room]
OLE: Many of these are written with quill pen, and somewhere in these special collections, we actually find the quill pen of Charles Dickens himself!
[he passes behind another shelf, and suddenly finds himself in the ancient study of Charles Dickens ... so he grabs his quill pen and laughs, then cut to a newspaper with the headline "UB Grabs Hold of Dickens' Feather Pen (The New York Times, December 23 2007)"]
ANNOUNCER: In the library's abundant special collections, there is also a complete collection of newspapers, where you can read what was in print on the day Germany invaded Norway! You can also find the big events which took place on your own birthday! I, for example, was born on the day Ireland became a republic!
[cut back to the man surrounded by stacks of newspapers]
OLE: It is said that, by reading a newspaper like the Times every day for a week, you get more information than a person in the Middle Ages got during an entire life!
[cut to the man standing between two bookcases, as the camera begins to shake]
OLE: Today, we are bombarded with information from all directions ...
[he suddenly notices that the shelves are closing in on him]
OLE: It almost feels ... somewhat overwhelming!
[the screen goes black]
OLE: [in voice over] Fortunately, the library can enlighten you.
[the sound of the man snapping his fingers can be heard, as the "lights" come back on and we see him standing next to a computer]
OLE: And search up electronically.
[cut to the man and the end of a bookshelf, pulling a book out]
OLE: The books you need, or find what you are looking for, in our vast databases.
[cut to the man standing in a "virtual reality" represenation of the library's databases]
OLE: The library gives you access to more than seventeen thousand journals, of which thirteen thousand are in electronic form. Here you will find everything ...
[a picture of the cover of "Cosmopolitan Magazine" appears next to him]
OLE: From my daughter's favorite, Cosmopolitan ...
[a picture of the cover of "Forum Mathematicum" appears next to him]
OLE: To the journal Forum Mathematicum, which keeps me entertained in the evenings.
[the camera zooms out to reveal hundreds of magazine/journal covers, until they all blend together and form a black-and-white image of the University of Bergen library]
OLE: But sometimes, a picture can say more than a thousand words.
[several more black and white photos are shown]
OLE: [in voice over] And in the photography collection, you can search and find hidden treasures ... and maybe, a great-great-grandfather turns up.
[cut to a photo of the man wearing and old-timey newsboy cap, which morphs into a live shot of the man looking at a bookshelf]
OLE: But, the university library is not only about information ...
[cut to the man walking through the library, as a male and female student are sitting next to each other at a table]
OLE: It is also a place where we can socialize, and meet other people ...
[the man walks off camera, as the female students smiles while the male student reaches over to hold her hand]
OLE: [in voice over] And maybe these are the contacts where the most important information is exchanged ...
[the image of the two students holding hands freezes, then becomes a photo in an album being held by the man, as he turns to an older woman (his wife?) and reaches over to hold her hand]
["The University of Bergen Library - Your Source of Information" appears on screen]
---
From blogspot.com:
The University of Bergen Library wanted to make a broad audiovisual presentation of the library to provide an interesting, exciting and fun review of the library collections, resources and departments. The film was to be a pilot to get experience with the production and impact of film as a tool in library marketing. Ole Gunnar Evensen and Svein-Arne Selvik write about the video in detail :
We started with a clean slate and our goal was to create something new and different. The film was not first and foremost intended to show where the library is or how to borrow books/ search the databases but was meant to convey the fantastic opportunities the library offers by presenting it as an exciting, inspiring and cool place. The film was also meant to challenge prejudices about libraries in general.
The general impression was that knowledge of the University Library and the broad range of resources we offer was not good enough. In particular, the various options other than books and electronic resource, such as the special collections, photo collections, and our many departments were not well known. We simply wanted to increase the public's desire to use the library. The target group was the university's patrons but with a special focus on new students.
The ambition of the project was that production should have professional quality. Subsequently there is a great emphasis on dramaturgy and narrative technique. Obviously high ambitions and low budgets are difficult to combine, so this called for creative thinking. We initiated collaboration internally at the University with the Department of Information Science and Media Studies. As a result of this the recent (June 2009) graduates from the course in movie and television production, Jade Haerem Aksnes and Stian Hafstad, were hired for a summer job to make the movie. Technical equipment for filming and editing was put at our disposal free of charge from the department. With their youthful enthusiasm, talent and creativity, the two students did a fabulous job. The students were supervised by Svein-Arne Selvik who functioned as the producer. Mr Selvik is employed at the library's Acquisitions Department, but has a background in TV production. As the production budget did not cover for actors, one had to rely on the library's own employees to step in front of the camera, and Acquisitions manager Ole G. Evensen was assigned the part of the film's recurrent character.
The primary target group for the film is students and the film was posted on our website (link) and used in training and information seminars. We wanted the students to gain a better understanding of the vast collection of resources the library can offer. We also wanted to highlight the potential of the library as a meeting place.
In addition to its primary role as a university library, our library is also open to the wider community. We wanted to reach out to the public and used distribution channels such as You Tube, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
As we quickly received many positive comments on the movie and high ratings, we decided to make a dubbed English version of the film to reach a wider public. The version Youtube.com has subtitles that can be auto translated into many languages.
Our experience is that this information film project really has paid off in many respects. The film has created greater awareness of the library in the academic society as well as among the students. The librarians use the film to kick off training sessions, and we experience that more than 6 months after the release of the film the number of views at Youtube is still increasing.
The Norwegian media has noticed the film, and there have been numerous postings about it, including on the websites of Norway's two largest TV stations.
It is a great honour for us to be awarded the third runner up place for the IFLA International Marketing Award 2010. Indeed, this has inspired us to further promote our library so that as many people as possible will get to experience the importance and usefulness of the library. The follow up of the first general library information film will be a film specially aimed at new students and focusing on the risky business of cheating and plagiarism. We are planning to release the new film at the end of May.
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