by Martha Ball
As you watch the “Collection Connection” video for the Ralston Crawford Collection of Jazz Photography archival photos flash while you hear the opening notes of “Main Stem” by U.S. Army Blues. Curator Melissa Weber shares that through these images Ralston Crawford captured “joy, grief, rituals, cheating, dancing, selling, boredom, drunkenness, religion, lust, sickness, hard work, friendship, and so many other things.” Tulane University Special Collections (TUSC) and Digital Scholarship and Initiatives (DSI) hope that their collaboration on these videos inspires viewers to discover even more emotions and topics by accessing the collections online.
The “Collection Connection” video series consists of “visual introductions” to collections within TUSC. Each video is under three minutes and includes narration by a curator or another TUSC staff member, images and music from the collection, and a call to action for the viewer in the form of a link to the digital collection and an invitation to donate any related records. TUSC and DSI began making these videos in May 2020 as promotion for digital engagement during the pandemic that kept both experienced and new archival users at home. The eight videos are representative of the scope of TUSC’s holdings, spanning from the Gutenberg Bible Leaf to the Louisiana Political Ephemera Collection, from a Sanborn Fire Insurance map to a Carnival costume design from 1892.
In an article for ArchivesAware! Alan Velasquez, Unit Coordinator for DSI at Tulane University Libraries, shared that the team hopes the videos will serve as outreach to both researchers and donors, offering an initial spark of interest that will ideally lead to further discovery. This intention is clear in the videos, as each video introduces its respective collection through a survey of many images and themes, or a focus on one particularly representative image, such as the Carnival costume design. The format lends the series both variety and versatility, as Velasquez shared that the videos are utilized as timely content for the library’s social media accounts, relating the collections to the present Carnival or election season.
Video outreach projects require staff time, technology skills, and a commitment to social media as outreach, which all necessitate institutional support. It is clear that this project matches the stated mission and values of TUSC, serving as a specific product of these larger goals. TUSC states that its mission is to “facilitate the broadest possible access,” specifically investing in technology in order to encourage use. The 8 episodes have received a cumulative 2,000 views, which does not include an average of 120 views per video shared across social media. This demonstrates reach, especially when it is considered that the Howard Tilton Memorial Library Instagram account has 529 followers as of writing. This metric conveys the importance of making the videos under three minutes, as they are able to function effectively within social media platforms.
The success of this project demonstrates both the effects of institutional investment in a “series” project, where there are now multiple videos offering multiple access points rather than a one-off production. It is also clear that cross-departmental collaboration has proved beneficial, generating content that can be shared across the library and TUSC social media accounts. Hopefully more exciting projects will come out of this work, inviting new user groups to explore the collections.
Further Reading
Tulane University Libraries (2020, December 7). Collection Connection Series [YouTube Channel]. YouTube. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uul58kLPzG4&list=PL8gr_eRwPxu3gV1ArsS-YkzEuzdNhQW8l
Velasquez, A. (2021, February 17). Using Short Videos for Archival Outreach. ArchivesAware!.https://archivesaware.archivists.org/2021/02/17/using-short-videos-for-archival-outreach/
Vision, Mission, & Values. Tulane University Libraries. https://library.tulane.edu/places/vision-mission-values