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At the 2014 annual New Jersey Library Association Conference, 91���� Libraries received the NJLA Public Relations-Tech Shoutout Award for "The Rider Libraries Minute," a series of short videos that educate students on library resources in a creative way.

“Many people are unaware of how important libraries are and how libraries are designed to be a tool for students to use. Libraries are so much more than a house of books and a quiet place to study,” says Assistant Professor-Librarian Heather Dalal, who led the project.

The collaborative effort also included students Paris Hannon ’15, Hannah Yue ’15, Julia Pendagast ’14 and John Herbert ’14, Professor-Librarian, Robert Lackie and Libraries Computing Manager David Reynolds.

Dalal borrowed the idea from Arizona State University, where a librarian starred in a series of Library Minute promotional videos. Rider’s own Library Minute videos are different because of the student-librarian collaboration. Students star in the videos, which adds appeal, but they also write the script and make sure to exclude library jargon.

“We had a goal to make these videos short and sweet and under a minute to keep our audience’s attention,” Hannon says. The students shared the librarians’ passion about raising awareness of the library resources because they will save students’ time and help them succeed.

For Dalal, this acknowledgement means much more than just a prize. “It’s really wonderful to be recognized with a public relations award," she says. "We’re the only library in New Jersey that is doing this, yet we can help other libraries to achieve their own series of videos. All libraries fight to remain relevant in today’s age but we’re more significant than we have ever been because information has become overwhelming."