Teens can put their movie-making skills to work!

Winter break perfect time for students to prepare for video contest

Ask a Librarian sponsors video contest for high schoolers

TAMPA, Fla. (December 15, 2009) — Wondering what to do with your aspiring young director over the winter break? Tell your high school students about The Third Annual Director’s Chair, a contest in which Florida students submit commercials to promote Ask a Librarian.  Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows the public to chat with a librarian for help with homework or general questions

Floridians in ninth through 12^th grade are invited to submit a 30-second video promoting Ask a Librarian by January 24, 2010, for the chance to win a digital video camera, a digital camera or a MP3 player.

“We hope students will be using their holiday vacations to put the finishing touches on their entries,” said Diana Silveira, virtual reference manager of Ask a Librarian. “We know teens are incredibly creative, especially after seeing past entries, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with this year.”

After a panel of judges picks the top five videos, it will be up to the public to vote for their favorite video from Feb. 8- 20, 2010. 

Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair for more information about the contest, including submission instructions, prizes, official contest rules, release forms and more.  Previous winning videos are on the page for viewing. 

Visit www.askalibrarian.org for more information about the Ask a Librarian service.

Ask a Librarian is managed by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) and is a collaboration of over 103 Florida libraries.  Ask a Librarian is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida.   Ask a Librarian is a service of the Florida Electronic Library.

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium, Inc. (TBLC) is a nonprofit multi-type library cooperative that assists and empowers libraries. Since 1979, TBLC has worked with member libraries to provide better, faster service and resource sharing to the residents of Florida. For more information, call (813) 622-8252 or visit www.tblc.org.