2026 ARLIES Submissions

This reel is a joint production between The Bancroft Library and the UC Berkeley Office of Student Life (part of the Division of Student Affairs). Bancroft staff collaborated with the students to select items, script, produce, and promote the video.

From the students: “This video is a fun ‘come with me’ tour of some of the special collections at the Bancroft Library. We wanted to highlight some historical gems and unique items the library holds many of which students don’t realize they can access. The purpose was to show that these materials are available for students to reference, use in projects, and experience firsthand right here on campus.”

Instagram reel: The video was posted on the UC Berkeley Life Instagram (@ucberkelylife) in collaboration with The Bancroft Library (@bancroftlibrary) and the official Instagram account of the University of California, Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial)

Audience: UC Berkeley undergraduates, alumni, UC Berkeley community

Insights from Instagram (@ucberkelylife post in a collab with @bancroftlibrary and @ucberkeleyofficial)

Views: 84,774
Accounts reached: 42,900
Reels interactions: 1,309

The “Preserving the UBC Japanese Special Collection” video documents the journey of materials from the UBC Japanese Special Collection from physical conservation to digitization, with guidance from UBC’s Japanese studies librarian.

Drawing on broad interest in “how-it’s-made” process videos, we decided to take viewers behind the scenes in two highly specialized library units, the Conservation Space and the Digitization Centre, showing the technical care that goes into physical and digital preservation.

In addition to being a visually compelling process, the topic was chosen to be strategically shared in different formats to reach a number of the library’s core audiences:

• The video footage was originally shared as three short videos (~1 min. each) released as Instagram reels during Preservation Week 2025: one video documenting the conservation process; one video documenting the digitization process once the materials had been repaired; and one video interview with UBC’s Japanese studies librarian. The UBC Library Instagram (@ubclibrary) has 4,838 followers, where these three videos immediately became our most-viewed reels by a significant margin (~14K views each, compared to typically below 1,000 views per reel). This wide reach was supported by consistent amplification across UBC’s central Instagram channel (@universityofbc), which has 207K followers. The full 3-minute video was released on Instagram in May 2025, during Asian Heritage Month in Canada, where it received ~10K views. The video was also hosted on YouTube for additional external sharing.
• The video promoted the newly digitized Japanese Special Collection materials online, supported as well by a long-form story shared to the UBC Library homepage about the preservation process, drawing on the interviews and photos captured during filming. This story had 810 page views, and made for easy amplification/resharing across a number of partner channels, including UBC’s central News website (news.ubc.ca), UBC Today (UBC’s weekly newsletter and webpage that go to all UBC staff and faculty), and the UBC Asian Studies faculty newsletter to reach a targeted audience. The original story is here: https://about.library.ubc.ca/2025/04/28/preserving-the-ubc-japanese-special-collection/
• The video was also designed to be shared with two additional audiences: library donors and the granting organizations that supported the collection’s digitization. In this way, the video and story could be shared with those whose support made the project possible (including for grant reporting requirements), and to encourage new support in the areas of Japanese rare books, and digitization and conservation more broadly. In addition to our own sharing, UBC’s General Giving webpage (give.ubc.ca) amplified the story to help it reach other potential donors.

As the above numbers demonstrate, the video project successfully reached a wide audience across the UBC community and beyond. The flexible storytelling format also became our “proof of concept,” showing the efficacy of repurposing our video footage and interviews in a number of ways to target our desired audiences in the formats and on the channels they use.”

The new Cougar Collections series brings archives alive, surfacing the stories and voices that illuminate our history and inform our future. It’s intended primarily for students and secondarily for the public to increase awareness of the scholarly impact of special collections. As of 3/16, the video has generated 95 views on YouTube and 337 views on Instagram.

For Valentine’s Day 2026, Mizzou’s Journalism Library partnered with the School of Journalism to host a Blind Date with a Book event for students, faculty, and staff. Our goal was to promote discovery without judging materials by their covers while simultaneously showcasing the breadth and diversity of the Journalism Library’s collection, which includes photojournalism, journalism fiction, and leadership titles. Library staff wrapped 40 books in brown paper and provided only brief thematic clues to prompt curiosity and engagement. During the two-hour event, 34 books had been checked out, with three of our “stood up” titles circulating later that week.

To extend the event’s reach, a short promotional video was created and shared by @mujschool on Instagram where it received more than 8,000 views, 181 interactions, and multiple reshares. Cross promoted by @mizzou.libraries, the story reached an additional 139 unique viewers. Event participants were also encouraged to share unboxing videos (e.g., https://www.instagram.com/p/DUtJ_9JEaQj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link).The original post was notably reshared by @tamronhall—author of the featured book—and was highlighted during the opening minutes of the March 3, 2026 episode of The Tamron Hall Show and from the show’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjP8KN3xnrY&t=117s). Key engagement and impact measures demonstrate both in‑person participation and significant digital amplification.

NYU Libraries’ newest permanent installation “The River That Flows Both Ways” showcases a series of compelling and contemplative ceramic works by visual artist and NYU professor Jacqueline Bishop in her pursuit of commemorating the buried, interlinked histories of the Lenape lands on which most of NYU’s New York campus is located. This video profile of the installation is intended for inclusion in the digital exhibition catalog (available at nyu.manifoldapp.org/projects/the-river-that-flows-both-ways), and adapted into a shortened version for social media promotion.

The commissioned artworks are part of NYU Libraries’ University Archives and are on display in the 10th floor North Reading Room at Bobst Library, overlooking the historically-marked Washington Square Park. A beloved study spot for students, placing the works in this reading room allows students to encounter them as part of their everyday library experience, exploring questions that emerged in Bishop’s own mind when she was a student visiting the very same building.

The installation’s name is drawn from the Lenape (Munsee) name for the Hudson River, which, Bishop explains, references restlessness, the movement of goods, and also mutual respect. A “river that flows both ways is one in which respect is given and respect is received. These porcelain plates are a tribute to permanent yet shifting history […] These plates are my way of moving forward by looking back,” says Bishop.

The video profile of “The River That Flows Both Ways” is a culmination of work from all kinds of library workers—librarians, curators, graduate researchers, facilities professionals, undergraduate student workers, videographers, editors, producers, graphic designers, and library leadership who worked to make the installation and this video come to life.

This video makes its public debut nearly simultaneously with its ARLIES submission.

NYU-TV is a department of the NYU Division of Libraries.

This was created as part of a campaign to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of “The Great Gatsby” – the celebration included an exhibit in Princeton University Library’s Tiger Tea Room, a mural in town, and numerous events, from author talks to live performances. When posted to our Instagram page, we received a collaboration request from the main Princeton University Page and received nearly 27,000 views. For her efforts in promoting the 100th anniversary, the on-screen talent, Librarian Emma Sarconi, was also a recipient of the 2026 Outreach in Academic Libraries Award. Both the film’s producer/camera operator/editor (Brandon Johnson) and Emma received recognition from Princeton University’s Vice President for Communications and Government Affairs, Gadi Dechter.

With the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on July 4, 2026, this is a timely moment for a collections-focused video related to the founding of the United States and Rutgers as the country’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning. An exhibit opening April 11 that features rare treasures from Rutgers University Libraries provides both a call to action (Go see the exhibit!) and a natural promotional partner (Middlesex County, NJ, which oversees the Cornelius Low House museum, where the exhibit will be housed).

Key audiences:
– Rutgers community: administration, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors
– Residents of Middlesex County, New Jersey

Goals:
– Raise awareness of Special Collections and University Archives as a gem of the university and a part of Rutgers University Libraries.
– Inspire pride in Rutgers’ role in the nation’s history, and in Rutgers University Libraries by association: Rutgers has been here for all 250 years of U.S. history – and then some. Our history is a part of our story, and we are proud of our story. Rutgers University Libraries ensure our story lives on.

This video has not yet been disseminated, but Rutgers University’s central communications and marketing office has committed to collaborating on Instagram and amplifying our posts on other channels. They are also writing an associated story (with the video embedded) for Rutgers Today, which is distributed via email to all Rutgers faculty, staff, and alumni, along with other subscribers and members of the media. In addition, Middlesex County will collaborate on Instagram and amplify our posts elsewhere.

Key performance indicators and metrics we will track include:
– Awareness: reach, impressions, average watch time, completion rate
– Pride: engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares, saves)

This episode was created for Season 8 of the “Lost LA” TV series co-produced by the USC Libraries and PBS SoCal. It aired on cable, broadcast, satellite, PBS SoCal digital platforms, and YouTube, where it has drawn 10,000 views to date and counting. We also used the “True Crime” episode for a panel discussion and immersive theatre production inside USC’s Doheny Library as part of USC’s Visions and Voices arts and humanities series aimed at USC undergraduate students. To date, “Lost LA” has been recognized with 7 Los Angeles-area Emmy Awards, the 2023 SAG-AFTRA Belva Davis American Scene Award, 4 Golden Mike Awards from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California, 13 awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, and a PRExcellence Award Best in Show Award from the California Library Association.

uring Welcome Week, the Libraries received several questions asking about the empty book stacks in Carnegie Library and where to access those books. This fun and informative video was developed in response. 1,444 views and engagements, plus 5 shares, on the Libraries’ Instagram, Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

Purpose: The video’s purpose is to inform and promote Tulane University Libraries’ resource offering. It announces that the library provides full online access to the complete Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) archive, covering every issue from 1910 to the present day.

Audience: The primary audience is the Tulane University community—students, faculty, and researchers—who can access this resource through the library.

Measure of Impact: Based strictly on the available data, the impact can be measured as follows:

Video Views: The YouTube Shorts and Instagram version received 863 views.

Call to Action: The post successfully drives users to seek more information by directing them to “Find the link in our bio.”

The Chamber of Commerce for the City of Pullman has launched a tourism‑focused video series on the Visit Pullman YouTube channel, featuring stories that highlight the people, places, and creative projects that make Pullman unique. This film—spotlighting the Library of Leonard and Virginia Woolf held at the WSU Libraries and the creation of the new mural celebrating the collaboration between Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell—serves as the first installment in the series.

The film has already generated $11,000 in gifts to support the collection and has sparked excitement within the international community of Virginia Woolf scholars. The Libraries also featured the mural image on its holiday card, mailed to friends and supporters.

UA’s office of annual giving created Clash of the Capstone as a fundraising competition between current students and alumni, the winning side being determined by the number of donations received, not by the amount of money raised. We made one video for alumni using standard language, and produced a second student video with the exact same message, but using gen-alpha slang. We posted our video to our social media accounts with #COTC which allowed the annual giving folks to feature our film along with all of the others made for the competition on a website created specifically for the fundraising event. While we did not have the highest number of gifts among the colleges, we did place first on the COTC ambassador leaderboard which tracked giving connected to our specific fundraising link.

Purpose: Celebrating and raising funds for 60th anniversary of the naming of our Library, Ralph Brown Draughon

Audience: Alumni, Donors, Campus (faculty/staff/students), and Community

Measure of Impact:
Raised $71,422, surpassing our goal of raising $60,000 for 60 years
Viewed on Instagram 54,900 times
Shared on Auburn University’s main social media pages

The film’s purpose is to promote the CITY 2000 collection in our Special Collections and University Archives and to let the public, UIC community members and our donors know about a commemorative exhibit and event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the project and collection. The video had 558 views on YouTube and 997 views on Instagram.

Parks Library marked its 100th anniversary in 2025, commemorating a century of service as Iowa State University’s central hub for research, learning, and community. A committee of 15 current and former staff from various library departments collaborated with several campus partners to host a series of events throughout the year engaging on and off-campus audiences in-person and online. The suite of activities raised the public profile of the library locally and nationally.

Key events included: 1) the launch of the centennial video across library social media platforms and campus email communications; 2) a “birthday bash” treat give-away for students; 3) a public event featuring a student choir performance, signature ice cream developed with the ISU Creamery, and the launch of a new cider from the ISU Wine and Beer lab; 4) an academic lecture featuring the library’s art and architecture; 5) a trivia night for faculty, staff, and students; and 6) a private dinner for the library’s top donors.

With more than 1,200 attending the main celebration and nearly 100,000 reached by 43 centennial-related posts on social media, the impact of the year-long celebration exceeded expectations. By embedding the centennial video directly into our social media platforms and sharing multiple times throughout our centennial year, viewer stats climbed to more than 8,000 across all platforms (including more than 830 on YouTube alone).

When Iowa State University was invited to submit a nomination for the 2026 Association of Research Libraries Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, Parks Library’s centennial celebration was noted as a major factor.

The celebration achieved desired outcomes to: build community; increase engagement across all audiences; elevate stories, impact, and relevance of today’s University Library; and celebrate the library’s legacy, historical value, and contributions. Additionally, the celebration strengthened campus partnerships and provided events in which to engage, steward, and inspire donors.

This video was part of the annual statewide and University-wide Give to the Max Day fundraising campaign, which took place on November 20, 2025. UMN Libraries shared the video across its social media platforms and via email to existing and potential donors and UMN community members. Our “Library Lovers, Give to the Max!” campaign successfully reached its $2,500 fundraising goal, and received positive feedback from stakeholders across the University of Minnesota and beyond.

“More Than a Place to Study” highlights how the University of Virginia Library supports research, creativity, and community from a student perspective by prioritizing unscripted student interviews. It was created to support the University of Virginia Library’s annual giving campaign during National Library Week, where it will be featured on the Library’s giving page and across digital platforms, including YouTube and social media. While developed for a fundraising context, the film was intentionally designed to function independently as an evergreen representation of the student experience within the academic library.

Rather than including an overt solicitation, the film centers student voices to illustrate how the Library supports research, creative work, and community across disciplines. Through a cross-section of student perspectives, the video positions the Library as both intellectual infrastructure and a space for exploration and belonging.

The intended audience includes alumni, donors, prospective supporters, and the broader university community. The film will be incorporated into digital giving campaigns, embedded on the Library’s impact page, and adapted for use across social media and institutional communications.

The video has not been released as of this submission.

The University of Florida’s flagship Instagram account has seen major engagement from casual and fun student sit-down interviews. The Libraries decided to capitalize on this approach by incorporating our popular campus golf cart in a trivia game similar to Cash Cab. Edited in the popular (chaotic) Gen-Z style, which emphasizes rapid pacing and transitions, authenticity, text overlays and memes, Class Cab invites students to engage with the Libraries and test their campus knowledge.

Feedback from students across campus is to not only create more episodes, but they want to ride on the Class Cab!

Hosted on Instagram, we broke the video into two episodes. So far, the episodes have received a combined 13,756 views, 8,602 accounts reached, 518 likes and 79 shares.

For this video, our student Olivia Yasharoff wrote and recorded with friends UMD Libraries-inspired lyrics to the hit song Golden from the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters to get students inspired and ready for final exams. She then recruited students to star in the music video with her and filmed in the Libraries. She spent about six weeks in the planning, filming, and editing of this video, while balancing her other projects.

On our UMD Libraries’ Instagram account, the video garnered 15,927 views, 194 likes, 32 comments, 21 saves, and 163 shares. This was the highest performing video we’ve posted to Instagram in years. On Facebook, we received 2,431 views. Beyond our channels, the University of Maryland also shared the video to their Instagram Stories. We received many positive comments on the video including “this is the best video i have ever seen i love umd libraries” and “Terps are Golden” (referencing the video). We also received anecdotal feedback from our staff and faculty that they enjoyed the video.

This short film documents the Ice Cream Social Pop-Up hosted by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries as part of the Pages to Paths celebration. The event marked the public launch of the yearlong initiative, which highlights the history, people, and evolving role of the University Libraries in Nebraska’s research and learning landscape. Through interviews with attendees and those hosting the event, scenes of attendees enjoying the custom Dairy Store flavor, and moments of community interaction, the film captures the energy of the celebration while introducing the broader mission of the campaign. The Pages to Paths initiative commemorates several key milestones in the Libraries’ history—including anniversaries connected to Love Library North and South, the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, and the Adele Hall and Dinsdale Family Learning Commons—while encouraging the campus and statewide community to reflect on the Libraries’ past and imagine what the future could look like for research libraries.

The purpose of the film is to document and promote engagement with the Pages to Paths initiative by showcasing how events like the Ice Cream Social create welcoming, community-centered entry points to the Libraries’ resources and services. By highlighting the launch event and the enthusiasm of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors, the video reinforces the Libraries’ role as a hub for learning, collaboration, and discovery. The intended audience includes the University community, prospective students, alumni, donors, and members of the broader Nebraska public who benefit from the Libraries’ collections, expertise, and programs. Ultimately, the film aims to increase awareness of the Libraries’ impact, strengthen community connections, and encourage continued participation in Pages to Paths programming.

Purpose:
This video was created to give patrons an inside look at the daily work of the Audiovisual Preservation & Digitization team—work that is essential yet often unseen. By documenting their meticulous restoration and digitization processes, the piece highlights the expertise required to preserve fragile moving‑image history.

In addition, the video underscores the collaborative partnership between The Ohio State University Libraries and the Wexner Center for the Arts, helping promote the Wex Cinema Revival film festival and the broader movement to bring restored works back to the screen. https://wexarts.org/film-video/film-treasures-ohio-state-university-libraries-0

Audience:
The primary audience includes all patrons of the arts and the University Libraries—students, researchers, film enthusiasts, community members and anyone interested in cultural preservation. It also supports outreach to visitors and supporters of the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Measures of Impact:

Viewership: The full-length video has received 123 views on YouTube.
Social Reach: Segmented reels were shared across social platforms, where they generated notable excitement and engagement—particularly helpful in raising awareness for this newer department within University Libraries.
Program Support: The content contributed to the successful promotion of the film festival, helping connect audiences with the preservation work happening behind the scenes.
Awareness & Visibility: The piece boosted understanding of the University Libraries’ preservation efforts among patrons who may not have previously been aware of the scope and significance of this work.

Since 1998, Scare Fair has been one of River Campus Libraries’ most recognizable student-facing traditions and a clear expression of the libraries’ commitment to being welcoming and community-centered during the fall semester. For the campaign to promote Scare Fair 2025, we were inspired by the rising popularity of scripted social series across Instagram, and aimed to create version that felt authentic to the spooky stacks at Rush Rhees Library. The 4 episodes (submitted here as one), got a total 10,518 views via Instagram, and contributed to a sold-out Scare Fair, despite rainy weather.

The short was created after our Dean, Sarah Shreeves, forwarded a short created by UNC Chapel Hill with a similar concept. We wanted to recreate it, but with a twist… to whisper something good instead to keep it library related. The video has reached over 1.8 million views, has been liked over 100 thousand times and has been shared over 12,000 times. It really put the library’s Instagram on the map and netted us 900 followers and got us in front of people who had never heard of the library before. This was an incredible moment for the Marriott Library brand.

Cornell University Library created this short video to show students how to check out books directly from their seat using the Library’s self-checkout app. The video highlights a quick and convenient way to borrow materials using the app and was designed for Cornell students studying in library spaces.

Shared on Cornell University Library’s Instagram to directly reach students, the video has received over 18,400 views on that platform alone. The self-checkout app campaign was reinforced with signage and ongoing promotion across library spaces, and app usage data showed an increase in use between February 2025 and February 2026 compared to the previous year.

VCU launched the Ram Xpress bus in Fall 2025 to connect the Monroe Park Campus with the MCV Campus. As a hub for information, VCU Libraries wanted to be sure that all students were aware of this new resource. The video was posted to Instagram and emassed 319 likes, 67 saves and 95 shares. It reached over 6,500 accounts and was viewed 13,190 times, making it one of our most popular videos of the year!

This started out as a silly idea and then morphed into something that my student team really wanted to make before we went on winter break. The idea came from a conversation that they were having with access services staff. My students noticed that there were so many interlibrary loan requests that just never get picked up – eventually this lead to further discussions about the time and effort it takes to fulfill these requests. We collectively had been looking for a reason to use that Sarah McLachlan song and figured this was our opportunity. So we made this little PSA to encourage folks to pick up their ILL holds before leaving for the break. The video sparked some interesting conversations – we found that some folks were not even aware of how ILL worked! Instagram stats: 184 likes, 6 comments, 35 shares, 7 reposts, 20 saves, and 3,168 views. TikTok Stats: 754 views, 123 likes, 9 comments, 7 shares, 3 saves.

Poetry Stacked is a semi-regular poetry reading series, hosted by UC Libraries on the 6th floor of our main location, Langsam Library. The event usually features readers, an alumni poet, a student poet, and a community poet, who each read from their original work or work of their choosing. The event engages audiences through exposure to contemporary poetry and increases appreciation for both the talents of UC and community poets, as well as for poetry itself.

This particular event also included 3 community and university artists who created a live artwork during the readings. The prompt was to create an improvisational piece of work inspired by what the poets read. The purpose of the video was to create a meaningful recap of the event and to show followers and audience members across our various channels the beauty and impact of Poetry Stacked. The video was posted to the UC Libraries Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts and garnered over 2,000 views. It was also shared among staff and faculty members, as well as the Elliston Poetry Room, which is a co-organizer of the event.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7307746685688942592

A think piece for those who are looking for guidance in times of anguish and doubt.

The primary purpose of the film was to celebrate the opening of the Li Lu Law Library by showcasing its vision, planning, and construction. The video premiered at the Li Lu Law Library opening for VIPs, donors, and institutional leadership on December 4, 2025. The video was also amplified to wider audiences (students, alumni, staff, donors, friends) through the Law School’s communications channels (social media, websites, and newsletters). Alternate cuts were produced to tailor the messaging to specific audience segments, such as prospective and admitted students.

In addition to celebrating the opening, the goal of the video was to instill pride in and build affinity with our core audiences. Its narrative structure was styled as a mini-documentary exploring the Vision, the Construction, and the Final Reveal of the project. The video begins with a moment of quiet reflection before building to a crescendo of interviews and b-roll that convey achievement and forward-looking momentum.

PRODUCTION TEAM AND BUDGET
The video was produced in-house by Columbia Law School’s Office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs, with oversight and editing by our Associate Director of Multimedia Content and support from a freelance videographer on an as-needed basis. The production team was small and nimble to maintain flexibility. To work within our tight schedule, the associate director created a detailed storyboard to serve as a template and utilized new interviews, b-roll, and archival material in the final piece. Filming locations included the library (both under construction and completed), the architect’s Manhattan headquarters, and lead donor Li Lu’s law office in Seattle.

The project was allocated approximately $6,000 for freelance videography in New York and Seattle.

EVALUATING SUCCESS
The project’s success was evaluated based on viewer and stakeholder responses, deployment through external channels, and a number of audience engagement metrics:
– Enthusiastic feedback from event attendees, Law School and University leadership, library staff, and donors.
– Earned featured placement on the homepages of Columbia University and Columbia Law School
– Showcased in various newsletters and outreach materials to the community, including Columbia University’s “In Focus” newsletter, Columbia Law School’s “The Brief” newsletter, and an official communication to all applicants of the Law School’s graduate legal program
– Spurred a number of inquiries from other schools within Columbia University interested in producing similar projects using our workflow and final deliverables as a model

On YouTube, the video has earned 2,700 views with a 7% impressions click-through rate.
LinkedIn (our primary social channel): 3,084 Engagements, 25,945 Impressions, 11.9% Engagement Rate (per Impression).

Watch as one student grabs a coffee, utilizes our collaborative study spaces, conducts research with a librarian, and finds their perfect quiet zone. From the Help Center to Special Collections, see how the Library, Museums and Press supports the entire student journey.

Platform: Facebook
Audience: 1.6k social media followers (includes current and former students, faculty, staff and community members associated with the UD Library, Museums and Press)
Engagement: 792 views (since December 4, 2025)

Emory Libraries continues to lean into student-produced, short-form video to grow audience and engagement. Instagram generated more posts, impressions/views, and followers than any other platform for each of our individual library accounts, and our strategy to deliver more student-produced video drove YoY audience growth of between 10% and 39% per account as these student videos outperformed in terms of impressions, likes, and shares.

Last year, our student-generated IG reel for the “breathe.” exhibition won the Best Picture ARLIE for its portrayal of Emory Libraries exhibitions as wellness spaces for pause and reflection in the midst of busy periods of library research and study. This year’s IG reel also helps students to find Libraries spaces that fit their needs, but takes a very different tack. Inspired by the video game Mortal Kombat and the “Choose Your Character” TikTok trend, the roughly 40-second second video introduces viewers to five Emory Libraries, providing the character strengths and weaknesses of each. The video generated 3581 views, reached 2385 accounts, and led to 199 interactions including 156 likes (over 3.5 X the engagement generated by last year’s ARLIE Best Picture winner), and it is our pleasure to submit this piece for consideration for Best Publicity/Marketing Film.

Created for a wide campus audience, the film highlights the vision, values, and impact behind FSU Libraries’ spaces and services. Released in conjunction with Florida State University’s annual Great Give donation drive, the film helped generate $45,000 in direct support to FSU Libraries. The film has reached over 3,000 viewers across social media platforms.

The purpose of this Instagram reel was to make librarians feel more approachable to students, while playfully describing services and styles in a way that would feel fun and accessible to students. The feature received more than 200 likes on Instagram and more than 80 shares from students and university partners. It garnered more than 11,600 views.

Due to funding issues, we didn’t have money for book drop wraps in the 2025 budget, so one of our Public Services associates, Helen Souris, made art for them. This video explores their creative process. It’s a bit different from our normal instructional videos, but has been well-liked among Library users in informal polling.

The “Cartographies of Skin and Soil: Tattoos, Resistance, and 1500s Colonial Maps of the Philippines” exhibit at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hamilton Library was launched Oct. 15-17, 2025, with a workshop series and traditional tattoo sessions. This video, posted on Instagram and Facebook on Nov. 12, 2025, was intended to promote the exhibit, which remained on display through February 2026.

In addition to social media, a link to the video was included in a story about the exhibit and events on our website at https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/news/cartographies-of-skin-and-soil/. It was also included in a University of Hawaiʻi News story on Nov. 14 at https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/11/14/filipino-exhibit-links-tattoos-maps/.

As of March 17, 2026, the reel is by far our all-time best performing social media post, with more than 32K views on Instagram from 22,703 accounts, with nearly 3K interactions, more than 1,600 likes, and 700 shares. It reached a much wider audience than usual: 70% of the views came from non-followers of our account, which has 2,270 followers.

The exhibit was created to mark the 50th anniversary of both UH Mānoa’s Center for Philippine Studies (CPS) and the Philippine Collection at Hamilton Library. CPS had asked Hamilton’s Philippine Studies Librarian Elena Clariza to organize a tour of the library’s rare Philippine materials. As Clariza reviewed the materials, she began to question the limitations of the colonial, paper-based archives.

She decided to expand the project into a workshop and exhibit that foregrounded Indigenous Filipino tattooing as a living form of knowledge, emphasizing how memory and history are also inscribed on the body as acts of cultural resilience and resistance. By situating this work within the library, Clariza challenged conventional definitions of archives and advocated for recognizing embodied and ancestral knowledge alongside traditional collections.

She reached out to Tatak ng Apat na Alon, a pioneering Filipino cultural organization dedicated to reviving traditional tattoo practices. Members of its official tattoo shop, Spiritual Journey, traveled to Honolulu from California to speak at the workshops and perform traditional tattooing demonstrations in the library. They inspired all who attended with their traditional knowledge and cultural pride – especially Filipino students, who make up about 10 percent of the UH Mānoa student population (Fall 2025: https://data.hawaii.edu/student/enrollment). They are underrepresented: Filipinos account for about 25 percent of Hawaiʻi’s population.

King James Mangoba, our library’s social media content creator at the time (student position) and a double major in communication and marketing at UH Mānoa, created this video. Mangoba participated in the workshop and received a traditional tattoo during one of the demonstrations. “It was such a prideful process,” he said. “Each tattoo represents one’s story or achievements. Getting a traditional Filipino tattoo is one way that I can honor those who have come before me and become more connected to my culture.”

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ-LMyfjk20/

Created in celebration of Open Education Week, this short film highlights how several professors across Temple University are reimagining course materials to make learning more affordable, accessible, and student-centered. The video was created for a broad academic audience—including students, faculty, and education advocates—who are interested in open educational practices and textbook affordability. Featured on Temple University Libraries’ website and promoted through university communications channels, the film reached hundreds of viewers during the weeklong campaign and generated positive feedback from students and faculty who praised its clear storytelling and inspiring message about equitable education.

With six stories, 350,000 square feet, and seating for about 3,300 persons, the John C. Hodges (main) Library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has ample seating to serve a campus with a student body of just over 40,000 learners.

Until we enter Finals Week, that is! Then study spaces become increasingly scarce as students descend on the library in droves, seeking spaces to study or to take exams remotely. So, our Libraries Facilities staff supplement the permanent study carrels by setting out folding tables in open lobby areas throughout the building.

We want to help lessen the stress students might experience during a critical time in their academic experience. Providing something as simple as extra tables in the library during finals week (in addition to other resources we offer) addresses a need, communicates that we will make room for them so they know they are welcome in our spaces, and demonstrates our commitment to their academic success.

Our brief video alerts students that extra seating will be available throughout the centrally-located main library during that critical time. The video was recorded using an iPhone 15 Pro Max and edited using Instagram Edits. The background music, “Galop infernal” by Jacques Offenbach from the comic opera Orpheus in the Underworld, reflects the urgency students feel around the issue of seating. (The music was added using Instagram Edit’s built-in music library.)

Overall, the video (as of March 30, 2026) received over 17,000 total views, over 6,000 unique individuals reached, almost 600 likes, 2 comments, 17 shares, and 17 new followers across our social media platforms, which included Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Compared to our other content on Facebook, this video garnered almost ten times more views than our normal content. Additionally, Instagram and Facebook insights show that 50.4% of viewers were individuals ages 18–24, indicating the video effectively reached its intended student audience during finals week.

The video is a “big picture” introduction to the Texas A&M Libraries as vibrant places for study, socializing, creating, and more, was seen by thousands of new Texas A&M students during orientation sessions as well as thousands more in online posts on the Libraries’ social media channels.

Aimed at a general audience, the video is a quick, lively look at the Libraries’ events, exhibit space, the historic Kelsey Reading Room, a historic press, a preservation department, maker activities, author visits, and study spaces.

Library administrators and staff can constantly be found in the action. In the video, they are also shown interacting with students and potential donors.

The video played in a loop as crowds arrived at New Student Conference presentations and other presentations to share information about library services. It was a fast-paced jumpstart to put the Libraries in a positive light at many presentations.

This is the first of what we hope will be a series of videos where TXST faculty share their experiences using library services or resources. Our hope is that when faculty see their colleagues benefitting from something our libraries offer, they will better understand how we can help them.

This video was developed to highlight a solution to a perennial challenge of wayfinding to the Libraries’ Special Collections entrance. New signs, and stickers in the shape of dog paws (reflective of our Husky mascot), were added to help guide people from multiple points to the public entrance of Special Collections. The video was shared across all channels to widespread positive feedback, and was one of the most popular posts of the year on Instagram. The campaign is now part of annual marketing messaging, integrated with new student orientation materials, digital signage and outreach.

This short promotional film was produced by the marketing and communication staff and students at the Wayne State University Libraries to increase student awareness of library resources and services, particularly during finals week. The video follows an overwhelmed undergraduate student who is guided by a “Finals Fairy Godmother” on a whimsical tour of WSU Libraries, set to fantasy/quest-style music. Filmed on location across all five Wayne State University libraries (the David Adamany Undergraduate Library, Purdy/Kresge Library, Walter P. Reuther Library, Shiffman Medical Library, and Neef Law Library), the film showcases the breadth of resources and spaces available to students. The target audience is WSU undergraduate students, particularly those unfamiliar with the full range of library services available. The film will be deployed on the WSU Libraries website and across social media platforms during the finals period, April 27–May 5, 2026. Impact will be measured through video views and engagement metrics across platforms, social media reach and shares, and student feedback collected through comments.

Spaces was created to showcase the versatility of York University’s Markham Campus Library and the breadth of its available resources. The documentary follows York University alum and musician David Park as he navigates the library’s creative spaces in a single day, designing and 3D printing an original instrument, recording a track with it in the audio recording studio, and culminating in a live mini music performance. At its core, Spaces is a showcase of possibility, capturing an end-to-end creative journey that illustrates how a single idea can evolve into a fully realized creative work through the expertise, technologies, and spaces available in the library.

The film is intended for current and prospective users of York University Libraries, including students, faculty, and staff. As the Markham Campus Library is open to all members of the York University community, the documentary serves as an open invitation, highlighting the resources available. The goal is to inspire both existing users, donors, and those who may not yet be aware of the library’s offerings to explore and take advantage of its spaces and services.

Spaces is a newly released documentary that will be distributed across multiple platforms and venues to maximize its reach. The film will be circulated on social media channels, featured on online platforms, and displayed in-person screens throughout the York University Libraries network. As viewership data, feedback, and engagement metrics are gathered following its release, these will serve as key indicators of the film’s impact in promoting the library’s spaces and resources.

This parody reimagines the duet from Wicked as a conversation between fragile Data and the Preservationist who rescues it. It is a response to this year’s theme ‘Why Preserve?’ It shows that through preservation, fragile, cultural heritage information survives and both data and people are “changed for good.” Created and produced by staff from Libraries & Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary.

The purpose of the video was to increase awareness among faculty and graduate students of the Libraries’ Open Access Publishing Fund. The video was posted on the Libraries’ YouTube channel, included in the Libraries’ monthly newsletter, and shared with faculty across the university in the monthly Faculty Newsflash newsletter.

The purpose of this film was to highlight University of Cambridge PhD candidate Claire Ping’s experience conducting research at UC San Diego Library through the WongAvery Visiting Scholar Exchange Program and to showcase the depth and global relevance of UC San Diego Library’s East Asia Collection. During her four-week visit, Ping drew extensively on the collection to advance her dissertation on representations of men and masculinities in contemporary Chinese literature and screen culture. The film was developed in partnership with the Library and University Communications after Cambridge University Library similarly documented a UC San Diego scholar’s visit as part of the reciprocal exchange program, reinforcing the collaborative and international nature of the initiative.

The primary audiences included donors supporting the WongAvery Visiting Scholar Exchange Program, current and prospective scholars, faculty and campus leadership, and the broader public. The video was designed to demonstrate the scholarly impact of philanthropic support, elevate awareness of the Library’s distinctive collections and global partnerships, and encourage applications for the next scholar cohort in 2026.

The film received featured placement on the UC San Diego Today homepage (https://today.ucsd.edu/) — the university’s main news center — for several weeks, significantly expanding its reach. It was also embedded within a larger feature story published on both the campus news site (https://today.ucsd.edu/story/a-scholars-journey-from-cambridge-to-california-uncovering-uc-san-diegos-east-asia-collection) and the Library’s news center (https://library.ucsd.edu/news-events/a-scholars-journey-from-cambridge-to-california/), and promoted across Library social media channels.

Impact metrics include:

YouTube
281 impressions
101 views
1:30 average view duration

Instagram
18,845 views
168 likes
4,523 accounts reached
188 interactions

A University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) undergraduate student visits UCSB Library’s main Services Desk with “a really serious research question”: She wants to understand the recent controversy over the use of AI-generated music in the popular, award-winning Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025). The Services Desk Student Assistant is unable to answer the question but helps her book an in-person research consultation with Erin Smith, Collection Strategist and Subject Liaison Librarian for Music. Smith meets with the student in a consultation room and provides a very comprehensive answer to her question, referencing various primary sources as well as highlighting strategies for finding and evaluating sources and for identifying misinformation.

Targeted towards UCSB’s 23,000 undergraduate students, the video aims to demystify library reference and research consultation services, showcase the breadth and depth of subject librarians’ research skills and knowledge, and model effective strategies for finding and evaluating sources and for identifying misinformation.

Published on October 23, 2025, on UCSB Library’s Instagram channel, the video successfully resonated with UCSB students, amassing 11,500+ views and 500+ interactions, including 382 likes and 81 shares.

The concept was inspired by the popular social media trend to “go hilariously, unbelievably deep on one theory or product or story” (as noted by Rachel Karten in the “Link In Bio” newsletter, September 2, 2025), specifically taking cues from Los Angeles Public Library’s viral video on the relationship between musicians Charli XCX and Taylor Swift (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPXZIUagT3K/).

The video was filmed and directed by Johannes Steffens (Director of Communications and External Relations) and edited by Quynh Vo (Communications and Marketing Student Assistant). The video stars Quynh Vo, Erin Smith, and Bailey Filice (Services Desk Student Assistant).

The purpose was to introduce users to a new service of the Libraries, the Digitization Centre. On Instagram, the video reached 537 accounts, with 19 likes, 1 save and 11 shares. On YouTube, the video has 81 views and is hosted on the main About page of the Digitization Centre website. The video aided our campaign of raising awareness of the service and getting students, faculty and other university community to submit requests to the Centre. As of March 2025, the Centre has fulfilled 48 digitization orders and projects and scanned 3,465 items.

In a three part video and written series viewers can follow along get a glimpse of the complex and careful conservation efforts on an important piece of research material, the Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terraruman (Theater of the World), an atlas that revolutionized map making when it was first published in 1570 by presenting a global compendium of 16th-century cartographic expertise in one volume.

The library’s copy is extraordinarily rare, being one of the first forty ever printed. It’s also in need of extensive conservation and repair.

This is the first in a series of videos about the atlas and the work of the library’s Conservation Lab to make it available to the research community. The video has been pushed through library social media, in connection with the written articles and in newsletter directly to students and faculty on campus, as well as with donors, reviving hundreds of views, sparking interest of support from donors, and many comments from our community about the precision and expertise required to repair and preserve documents.

The purpose of this film is to raise awareness of and increase engagement with the newest service that the Hesburgh Libraries offers in support of research, teaching, and learning across the academy: the Immersive Technologies Lab (ITL). Located in the Navari Center for Digital Scholarship on the second floor of the Hesburgh Library, the ITL is a centralized hub where members of the Notre Dame community can learn about and explore the uses of extended reality (XR), including virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR). The film is an invitation to all to stop in and explore their project ideas and research questions more deeply.

The audience is Notre Dame leadership, faculty, students, and staff of all levels and disciplines.

Featured on the Hesburgh Libraries homepage
Published on the Hesburgh Libraries website
Featured on the University’s social media channels
Featured on social media channels across the academy, including Arts & Letters, Notre Dame Research, and more.
Featured on the Hesburgh Libraries social media channels
Published on Hesburgh Libraries’ YouTube channel
Shared internally with library employees and with Hesburgh Libraries Advisory Council Members

Impact: At present, the ITL is booked to capacity!