Teens Attract Younger Set to Library with PSAs

Thirty students participated in the 's contest to create a public service announcement to attract their peers to the library, and while seven very enthusiastic films were submitted, only one could be crowned the winner.

"Library Yeah!," an energetic Crazy Eddie-type infomercial about all that the library has to offer, took first place on the awards night late last month. The short film, created by Jesse White, Isaac Lopez, and Ricardo Guerra, was so popular it also took home the two-week long viewer's choice award, which wrapped up on Friday.

Library director Dennis Fabiszak kept the Teen PSA winner from awards night a secret during the online portion of the contest, which tallied up the YouTube views, Facebook "likes" and comments of all the entries.

Fabiszak said he was thrilled with the submissions. "The students researched a number of library services, created scripts, filmed for several days and finally produced some wonderful videos that will help advertise these services," he said.

The kids highlighted services such as online tutoring, Mango Languages and Live-Brary, where free downloadable ebooks & audiobooks are available.

Lisa Houston, the young adult librarian, said the contest was meant to run with the American Library Association Teen Tech Week, though it started a bit later on March 21. Having done a short film contest that brought in just eight students with two entries last year, Houston was encouraged by the number of students that showed up this time.

Using video equipment through the high school, students were given a few guidelines; films could be no longer than three minutes and had to touch on at least one of four services the library had to offer.

With just 10 days to work on the film, students looked to Jeremy Quitko, their videography teacher at , for help and even a cameo in one video.

"They really got into it. The best part for me was they learned more about the library," Houston said. "Just to see kids running around the library was great," she said, adding she hopes the students that don't usually come to the library come back.

"Library Intervention," which turns out to be more a discovery into the wonderful world -- not the dark, lonely world -- of a library, took second place on awards night. It was created by Emma Gambino, Kristina Moucha, Abby Houston, Kathryn Ryan, Allison Charde.

"We are pleased that the students were able to use this project as a great learning experience and look forward to collaborating with on additional projects for our local students," Fabiszak said.