Library at IITGN

“ You are not done with a book until you pass it to another reader.” - Donalyn Miller

Reading is a valuable skill, which helps us to know, understand, think, create, and share. Of all the implications of reading, sharing of our understanding and thinking is rewarding. Given the times, the entire world is going through, sharing of ideas, thoughts, feelings, information, and knowledge is topmost on everybody’s mind. Adding to it is the advantage of technology: the instant transfer of ideas, feelings, and knowledge has a positive impact on the society.

Books being the sources of knowledge, information, entertainment, and inspiration can change the way one thinks, feels, and does. Every book has the power to create an impact on one person or the other. Libraries being the institutions to preserve and promote the exchange of information and knowledge they design services accordingly. Similarly, Library@ IITGN is making an effort to reach out to its user community (students, faculty, staff, residents, alumni & others) to bring forth reviews/impressions of any books that they have read which left a strong impact on them, and to share it with the rest of the community through a small video clipping.

Therefore, the Library requests you to identify any book that you have enjoyed reading and which impacted you most, and would like to recommend to others through a short video for which the guidelines are attached herewith. Such collected videos will be shared on the Library/institution website for others to view and give their feedback.

Such brief book reviews through video can inspire others and promote the habit of reading in a different way. The Library would get an opportunity to add that book if it’s not in its collection or get more books of that particular author or in that genre. Eventually the Library would like to create a digital database of these reviews of most impactful books for the reference of future generations.

As Mortimer J. Adler rightly said, “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

We look forward to your active participation and contribution in this small initiative taken by the Library.

Matters to be covered in the video

• ✦ The videos’ duration would be of 3 to 5 minutes.
• ✦ The initial 15 seconds of the video could be used to introduce the person recording the video.
• ✦ Then after introduce the book and the author.
• ✦ How did it make you feel while reading the book (you can mention any interesting point of the story which you really enjoyed while reading)?
• ✦ Explain this book in brief (concluding remarks)
• ✦ Recommend the book to anyone, if you want.

Things to keep in mind while shooting the video

1. Avoid vertical videos

Computer monitors, TV screens and websites having landscape-oriented displays, it is always preferable to shoot in landscape (horizontal) mode.

2. Use a stable support while recording a video.

A jerky video does not give a good impression. If you are recording with your smartphone, try to keep it stable by using a homemade or commercial tripod. For reference please check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtJovKtujo

3. Zoom should be avoided.

Zooming in may not give a good result.

4. Lighting

Natural lighting generally looks better than artificial one. However, take care not to sit with your back to the source of light, as this may result in underexposure.

5. Exposure and focus

Check before recording that everything in the frame looks perfect. A brief test run is advisable.

6. Audio is the most important part.

The camera’s built-in microphone should work fine for indoors recording, but for outdoors, or if your place is noisy, headphones with microphone may be advisable.

7. Review

The Library Team/Committee will check each submitted review before posting it for viewing. This is to ensure the quality of recording, relevance of content and any issues of copyright.

8. Hosting

The reviews will be posted on the Institute’s YouTube Channel for viewing with and outside the Institute.

9. Sample videos

Here are some videos which can be used as sample.
https://youtu.be/YT7tQzmGRLA
https://youtu.be/IWTNlTvw6xw
https://youtu.be/5Ws2WfeD6d8

Submission of Videos

The final version of the video clipping recorded with necessary details may be submitted via an email at libraryservices@iitgn.ac.in