Sometimes you just can’t say it with words. For those occasions, you might want to attach a video to an item on your shelves to help other patrons determine if they’d like to borrow it. Some types of videos you can add to a title:
- Interviews with authors about a work, or footage of the author reading from his or her book
- Movie trailers
- Music videos
- Videos you create yourself describing your reaction to a book or movie, or illustrating some aspect of the title you’ve borrowed
If a video is available on YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube or TeacherTube, you can add it to a title.
Why Add a Video?
Videos help other library members discover items of interest to them, and they add value to your library’s catalog.
To add a video from a title’s details page
- Log in to your account.
- Search for the title you want.
- On the title’s details page, scroll down to the More from the community section.
- Click the Videos tab under Community contributions.
If you are on a mobile device, or your browser window has been resized, you may see a drop down menu instead. Select Videos.
- Add the URL to the video
- Open a new browser window and find the video you want on YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube or TeacherTube. Copy its URL from your browser.
- Switch back to the catalog window, and then paste the URL in the Video box. You’ll see a preview so you know you have the right video.
- Add a title for the video. For example, “Wizard of Oz trailer”. This will appear directly below the video window.
- Optional: Add a short description of the video (maximum 500 characters).
- When you are finished, click Post video.
To play the video, click the Videos tab under More from the community, and then click the video.
To add a video from a shelf
- Log in to your account.
- Go to the shelf where you have the item saved.
- On the toolbar at the bottom of the item, click More, and then click Video.
- In the Add a video popup, add the URL to the video
- Open a new browser window and find the video you want on YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube or TeacherTube. Copy the URL from your browser.
- Switch back to the catalog window, and then paste the URL in the Video box. You’ll see a preview so you know you have the right video.
- Required: Add a title for your video. You can enter up to 50 characters.
- Optional: Add a description of the video.
- By default, the video is set to private. Select the checkbox for Set item to shared to post it publicly.
- When you are finished, click Save to add your video to the title’s details page.
Notes:
- You can only add one video per title.
- If you have a video of your own you’d like to add, you’ll need to create a YouTube account and upload the video first before you add it to a title on your shelves. YouTube accepts a variety of video file formats compatible with Windows, Mac and mobile devices, including MOV, MPEG4, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEGPS, FLV, 3GPP and WebM.