COPPUL Animated Tutorials Sharing Project

Recognizing that creating and updating Tutorials for each online resource is a daunting task for any library to undertake on its own, librarians in COPPUL got together to find a way to share in their development. This project is an outgrowth of that initiative and our goal is to create a critical mass of Open Source Tutorials for online resources used by libraries everywhere. Participation in the project is both welcome and essential to it’s success. So please to join us in an initiative that we hope will greatly benefit library users everywhere!

This sounds like a wonderful idea. But …

Am I the only librarian who as a user hates tutorials?

If I’m looking to learn something specific, html-based ones are great. Graphical ones that are worth sitting through are few and far between. I’m quick to write off any service that I need instructions to use. It seems like a waste of time.

Seeing the students who come to me for help on a daily basis, I know I’m not alone. I can’t help but wonder how much use these are going to get. Yet I also don’t have a better answer. Services can only be “dumbed-down” so much without losing needed functionality.