Students put library on TikTok

To help make good books in the library more accessible to students, a group of young people from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) had the initiative to introduce books on TikTok.

Dau Nguyen Khanh Linh hosts podcast clips on TikTok introducing books from the school library - Photo: NVCC

Since August 2024, the group of students has "TikTokized" about 40 book introduction clips. One clip surprisingly attracted up to 11,000 views.

TikTok is also a channel to promote books and libraries, increase library awareness, and encourage students to explore available resources.

Nguyen Tran Thanh Khang, student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

By students, for students

Nguyen Tran Thanh Khang - a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - was one of the people who came up with this idea. Khang said that he had previously worked as a collaborator for the school library, mainly responsible for helping to arrange books after students had finished reading.

After a while, Khang realized that the book resources in the school library were very rich but many students still did not know about them.

Because he studied communications, Khang had the intention of working with other collaborators in the library to carry out a project to bring library books closer to students. Thus, the project of "TikTokizing" books was born.

The group quickly received consensus from the library staff, all of whom saw TikTok as a popular platform for young people, especially students. In addition, short, creative clips will help students access more easily.

"The team also believes that TikTok is also a channel to promote books and libraries, increase library awareness and encourage students to explore available resources.

Creative and interesting content can stimulate students' interest in books. In addition, TikTok has commenting and sharing features, helping students connect and discuss books," Khang said.

From idea to practice is not far. Khang said the group divided into groups, one group selected books and one group took care of the form. Both form and content must be closely connected to make it as accessible as possible to students.

The group that finalizes the book summary should usually be 60 seconds. In that one minute, the reviewer should list 3-5 reasons to read this book. In addition, the TikTok clip should have a good quote, an intriguing plot, or a reason why this book is worth reading.

For podcasts about books, the duration can be longer than a minute. Dau Nguyen Khanh Linh - a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - is an "early" member who participated in building the TikTok channel, and is also an MC for the podcasts.

On average, the channel will have a podcast clip every month. Linh said that at first, she was quite confused about how to build a script to attract the most attention.

After many experiments, Linh realized that storytelling was effective. Viewers are often attracted to emotional stories.

"I often give some interesting stories or memorable quotes from books. In addition, comparing the content of the book with real-life issues or movies also creates more perspectives for viewers," Linh said.

According to Linh, during filming, the team paid close attention to beautiful corners of the library, bookshelves, or quiet reading places. They will calculate natural light or LED lights to increase the visual appeal.

You must know how to choose popular background music on TikTok. And when editing the video, you will have to use effects or beautiful library videos to create highlights. You should post during the time when students are often online, such as evenings or lunch breaks. "Little by little, we all have to learn," Linh shared.

“Behind the scenes” of the TikTok clip introducing books by a group of HUTECH students - Photo: NVCC

Students coming to the library increased

Mr. Chau Nguyen Anh Quoc - a librarian at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, who accompanied the students' project in its early days - said the project's impacts were impressive.

He personally noticed that the number of students visiting the library after the TikTok series of clips premiered increased by one and a half or even double in some days. Many students said that they thought the library only had specialized books.

Now most of you know that your school library has more books than you can imagine. According to Mr. Anh Quoc, the number of books and documents in the school library is currently more than 276,000.

Of which, metadata, books, newspapers and magazines are up to 90,000, open access documents are about 72,000, books on applied sciences are about 26,000, books on society, economics, law are about 16,000... "This number is bigger than students think, it's just that most of you don't know about it yet," said Mr. Quoc.

According to Mr. Anh Quoc, when creating a book review series on TikTok for students, choosing the right book is a key factor to ensure the content is attractive and valuable to the target audience.

Many students tend to be interested in books that help them improve their soft skills, life orientation or time management. Books about communication skills, life skills, effective habits... are often of great interest.

In the library, books related to study and career are also an option. Choose books that provide knowledge to supplement your studies, typically books on subjects such as economics, finance, science, engineering, programming, marketing.

Entertainment and motivational books are popular. Although less common, students who find these types of books in the library are often very interested in studying.

Another genre, students often like light stories, novels with close content. These books are usually of moderate capacity.

Students often prefer books that are not too long or have an easy-to-read structure, such as being divided into short, easy-to-understand chapters. In addition, modern, easy-to-understand translations that use language that is close to young people will be preferred.

Maintain reading habits

Nguyen Tran Thanh Khang said that introducing books to others is also a motivation for you to read more. You not only read the books you like, but also read more content in many other fields.

"It also helps me maintain my reading habit, expanding my knowledge and understanding into other areas that I may not have thought of," Khang said.

Many useful lessons

Dau Nguyen Khanh Linh believes that taking the time to "TikTok-ize" book introduction clips gives you a lot of experience in studying.

For example, presenting book content concisely and easily understood helps students improve their public speaking skills and convey messages clearly and attractively.

In addition, coming up with unique ideas to present books will stimulate students' creativity. "I practice reading quickly, understanding deeply and choosing important and interesting details from books to introduce in a short time," Linh said.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sinh-vien-dua-thu-vien-len-tiktok-20241215083659985.htm