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susan_library
susan_library
advantages of using in-house tutorials vs. vendor tutorials
Mar 11 2009, 4:51 PM EDT | Post edited: Mar 11 2009, 4:51 PM EDT
Hi everyone, my library has developed several tutorials in house aimed at students in particular courses, at the request of our faculty. I know many vendors including Ebsco and Credo Reference have their own resource sections and tutorials within the databases themselves.

I was wondering how many of you utilize resources from the vendor as opposed to creating your own tutorial? Do you point students to a mix of both from your website? I figure some believe there is no sense in "reinventing the wheel" while others like to create their own so they can "brand" the tutorial and include their logo, contact info, etc.

Any thoughts? 0  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
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Kazakoff
Kazakoff
1. RE: advantages of using in-house tutorials vs. vendor tutorials
May 19 2009, 3:54 PM EDT | Post edited: May 19 2009, 3:54 PM EDT
Hi Susan:

We actually address this in our FAQ. I was just at LOEX and a fellow librarian indicated that they thought the vendors did a poor job - that their videos were less about information literacy and more about promoting their product. This is what we say in our FAQ.

Hope this help.

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane 0  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
Kazakoff
Kazakoff
2. RE: advantages of using in-house tutorials vs. vendor tutorials
May 19 2009, 3:57 PM EDT | Post edited: May 19 2009, 3:57 PM EDT
Susan:

I realized I did not answer your second question. We really don't use vendor tutorials, but make heavy use of a combination of ANTS and in-house (for library specific issues) tutorials. 0  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
faheygl
faheygl
3. RE: advantages of using in-house tutorials vs. vendor tutorials
Jul 23 2009, 6:13 AM EDT | Post edited: Jul 23 2009, 6:13 AM EDT
"Susan:

I realized I did not answer your second question. We really don't use vendor tutorials, but make heavy use of a combination of ANTS and in-house (for library specific issues) tutorials."
Hi,
we have some vendor tutorials available from our Library help pages, but we want to develop our own, that will target our students. We are beginning to make our own tutorials but what do you do about copyright if you want to show a screen from one of the vendors?

Gerry
(Australia) 0  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
Kazakoff
Kazakoff
4. RE: advantages of using in-house tutorials vs. vendor tutorials
Jul 23 2009, 3:24 PM EDT | Post edited: Jul 23 2009, 3:24 PM EDT
Gerry:

Check our FAQ section of the wiki (http://ants.wetpaint.com/page/FAQ/ ) The question comes up periodically, so we have our answer there.

In addition, we have been creating database tutorials for some time now and vendors have never complained. I explain why in the FAQ.

If you are interested in creating database tutorials we would love to see your content at this site. It is possible to create database tutorials that suit your local needs and ANTS needs. It just means omiting local information (screenshots of your library home pages for example, and not including link resolver screen shots.) If you are using Camtasia, RIchard Baer talks about how to do this using Camtasia in our Best Practices in Screencasting section (Camtasia uses video as opposed to the more powerpoint- like approach of Captivate and Viewletbuilder... So Richard thought it would be great if Camtasia users were given info about editing video tutorials for local and ANTS use.)

At any rate, I do hope the FAQ section helps answer your initial question! Hopefully we will see some of your creations here soon as well!

Cheers,

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane (Canada) 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?