Lori Bell, who really needs to get her own blog now that she's abdicated her Handheld Librarian title, had told me that NOLA (the folks behind the ListenOhio Audible program) were launching a new initiative in February. All of a sudden, it's February (I'm still working on catching up to that one), so Lori forwarded to me the following announcement.

The Performer's Showcase

"The Performers Showcase has been an exciting project to coordinate at NOLA. NOLA has taken the State Library's list of performers and created a database that is searchable and has video clips of many different performers. We have sent letters to over 120 performers and have received over 35 responses including performers that have sent us videos and others who have come to NOLA to have their performances captured.

This project was started so that no one needs to travel to Columbus to the Performers Showcase. Instead of a trip south you can simply turn your computer on and go to www.showcaseohio.org and view at your leisure a storyteller, magician, and many other performers. NOLA will roll out the first website for performers in Ohio with video clips of their programs."

I can't seem to get to the site yet, but I really like this idea. We're heading in a slightly different direction for video at SLS because we plan to use Flash instead of MPEG-4 for video, but there's no reason we couldn't add this type of functionality to the existing Parade of Programs database of performers recommended by Illinois librarians. A most interesting idea!

On a side note, if any of my SLS colleagues are reading this, check out the NOLA newsletter from which the above blurb is taken. I really like the way the second page highlights their accomplishments and teamwork. We don't do enough of this, and I think we need to change that. Our members don't understand everything we do (and can do) for them because we don't do a good job of telling them.