Oxford Public Library Launches Creative, Funny Video Campaign

It all started with Corduroy. You know, the children’s book character. The Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library rented a Corduroy costume for an event and kept it an extra day. That’s when Library Assistants Blake Adams, host of Library Assistance with a Library Assistant (or ‘LALA’), and former independent filmmaker Seth Wilson decided to film the antics of Corduroy inside the Library.
“I was absolutely on board with the idea,” Wilson said. “We cleared it with our Head Librarian, Laura Beth Walker, and it became a wild success by public library standards.”
The reaction to the Corduroy video prompted Adams and Wilson to produce informative and entertaining videos. They decided to film skits about common library topics, such as book drop boxes, books sales, and re-shelving books.
“The videos are gaining traction as people see and share them, positively getting the library more patronage,” Wilson said. “We love the effect and want that to continue.”
The Library uses YouTube and other social media platforms to promote their video series called  “Library Assistance with a Library Assistant”. The videos are short, free to watch, and easy to access.
“We at LCOPL love those criteria and wanted to bring our outreach into the 21st century,” Wilson said. “Our ultimate goals for these PSAs are to inform our public of library features that they may have forgotten about and to help them learn about our new ones. We exist to help others for free and folks might like a reminder of that from time to time.”
Libraries often fall into the background with competition like Netflix, e-readers and copy-print Stores. However, there is one huge key difference between the local public library and the other services. The Library services are free! The LCOPL currently boasts a DVD collection of more than 6,000 titles and thousands upon thousands of free books.
They aren’t just old classics either, we have the newest films as well as the newest titles around,” Wilson added. “We have tons of free programs for the public to entertain themselves  for the cost of walking into our doors and showing a freely acquired Library Card. We hope to overcome payed competition with promises and deliveries of cool videos, vast media and book selections, and always free service.”
Click Here to watch all of LCOPL’s videos, including “Library Assistance with a Library Assistant” and “Corduroy Visits the Library”, of course!

LCOPL is located at 401 Bramlett Blvd. and is open seven days a week. Learn more about LCOPL at www.firstregional.org/oxford.