The LibVid Awards

We know you have so many questions about The LibVid Awards.  Well, this blog is way too new to have a full FAQ section (and thanks to Unshelved, I mostly think of Frequently Asked Questions as a cool tee-shirt slogan) so we’ll just start with this.

Q. Who are you guys?

A. Shhh! It’s a secret.   We are three wacky reference librarians in the Mid-Atlantic region who know how hard it is to make a good video and think that those who manage to pull it off should get a little credit.

Q. Then why don’t you use your real names?

A. Three words: Witness Protection Program.  Actually, we feel that being anonymous is important for what is, at least partly, a review site.  Just like the restaurant critic who dons a disguise before trying that hot new gastropub, we don’t want to feel like we have to laud someone’s work just to avoid hurting their feelings. And disguises are fun.

Q. How are videos nominated?

A. Two ways really. We find some of them ourselves and others are recommended to us by good people like you.

Q. Do you really want nominations from your readers?

A. Yes.  We search pretty hard for the right videos to highlight but we’d never be able to cover everything out there without your help. If you see something you like, please tell us.  Even if it is your own work.

Q. Do you post everything submitted?

A. No, but we do look at everything.  Some videos look great but aren’t really breaking new ground.  Others have great stories, are well acted, and approach resources in interesting ways but have terrible sound quality or shaky camera work so the message is obscured.  We try to look at overall quality when selecting what we post even though a video may only be nominated in one category.

Q. When will the final LibVid Awards winners be anounced?

A. A good question.  Because this is our first year we will see how long it takes to collect enough nominations for the awards to be meaningful. I can say that we will be asking for your input on who the winners will be when the time comes.

Q. Will an internationally known accounting firm be tallying all the votes collected?

A. No.  We have already embezzled away all the funds earmarked for hiring accountants.

Q. There are some hilariously bad library videos out there, how come you aren’t posting them?

A. It’s just not our style. We aren’t out to slam anyone just to get our snark out.  Doing this right can be hard and if someone out there is trying, that’s great.  With practice they’ll get better and then maybe we’ll post their stuff.