WebJunction

During FY2007, Lincoln Trail Libraries System was awarded an LSTA grant through the Illinois State Library. This was the third year of funding LTLS received from the State Library to promote diversity and cultural awareness in all types of libraries throughout the State.

As the project director for these grants, I was planning an all-day diversity workshop -- so I was looking for presenters. I was privileged to hear about a gifted diversity trainer named Susan O'Halloran. Susan presented a half day workshop for our diversity forum in March of 2007 entitled, "Walking the Talk". The idea behind "Walking the Talk" was to provide the attendees with a skill set to reach out to their own communities and not just talk about differences but to promote cultural awareness through education and understanding of individuals and their backgrounds. That workshop was very successful so we did it again later on in the grant year.

During this timeframe, I realized that Susan's message was one that should be promoted beyond the length of our grant. Early in our first year of diversity grants, Lincoln Trail had had two other videos produced -- the first video captured an African-based performance of singing and drumming; and the second video captured frank interviews from immigrants representing six different countries. These videos are great examples of cultural differences but they did not "train" anyone to reach out beyond their comfort zone.

So, with all of that in mind, I contacted Susan with the idea to make a series of videos to be available via the web to the public and to libraries and their boards. The video series had three sections -- the second and third sections were specifically for the library world. Susan brought all of her intellectual content from the "Walking the Talk" workshop. I provided her with library examples and got her in touch with other librarians to hear first hand accounts. Susan then wrote a wonderful script in a very, very short time period. Now, all I needed was a production company to get it videotaped. The video script called for charts and graphics to be inserted throughout. It required more than a videographer -- it required a production company. Susan needed a tele-prompter, a set, and people to get the quality that we all wanted.

Sarah Long, the director of North Suburban Library System, has been the host of an award-winning cable show entitled, "What's New in Libraries?". The quality of that show and the video clips that appear for the libraries in North Suburban Library System was abundantly clear. And where did that quality come from? The Library Production Studio!

That's where I met a great group of people -- Joshua Pfluger, Executive Producer; Michael Cloud, Production Manager; and Alexis H. Sarkisian, Producer/Library Marketing Consultant. The Library Production Studio is housed in Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

These 3 people took the script that Susan had written, created 3 different sets in the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, created the graphics and all the video from shooting live at the last workshop Susan did for us to cut-aways and even added the background music -- guaranteeing the quality of the product we were creating!

What did I do? I sat back - told them my vision of the videos and how I wanted them to flow - and I even got to read along with the script to make sure Susan didn't pronounce anything wrong! Two very long days later -- we had our video!

The next couple of weeks was spent in post-production. And again, my role was relegated to making minor corrections and helping with the placement of the graphical inserts. The Library Production Studio did all the rest! Susan and I worked on hand outs to make them available on the web. My last job was to upload the video which the Studio sent to me to our server.  Within two months, we had our video series!

The unbelievable talent from Susan O'Halloran; the ability of the Library Production Studio to understand my goals; and the need to create a complete and professional project was all blended together by the staff of the Library Production Studio. And although there may have been a late night or two involved with this video -- it really was worth it! This project has been one of the most rewarding and satisfying of my library career.

Donna Schaal, Lincoln Trail Libraries System