Advocacy through videos: Short movies on school libraries

The Portuguese School Libraries Network Program (SLNP) has commemorated its 20th anniversary in 2016. Several initiatives were prepared to mark this event, some of them involving students, the main patrons of school libraries. “Short movies on school libraries” was a challenge presented to students. They would have to prove that their school library was the best through the production of a short movie, according to given rules. After that they could, during a certain period, publicize their video in the school communities through the school library YouTube Channel, blog and Facebook page. Finally, the videos were uploaded to the School Libraries Network (SLN) Facebook page, where people could like and comment them. The twenty videos that obtained a larger number of likes were the ones that got the right to be inserted in the SLN-20 years webpage. (20 years – 20 videos). Students had to mobilize their communities to like their movie and all the followers of SLN Facebook page were also invited to participate. This initiative involved almost 130 school libraries and more than 1000 students. In each school the process was monitored and coordinated by the teacher librarian. The critical thinking skills were exercised through this challenge. In fact, students had to brainstorm about what they consider relevant and most important in their school libraries and about the way to convey their idea to people who are not familiar with it. Another important matter of discussion was the way social media reach people and influence their way of thinking. Students had an opportunity to take advantage of that influence for a positive cause. It was an excellent way to advocate for school libraries by leading a lot of people that usually don’t pay attention to them, to be aware of the value they have for their children and teens.