The 10th annual ARLIES Film Festival featured 29 videos by ARL members, shown at the ARL Spring Association Meeting in Minneapolis and live-streamed on the ARL YouTube channel on April 29. The festival highlights and shares videos developed by member institutions to increase knowledge and use of libraries, their spaces, services, collections, and expertise. ARL member representatives in attendance voted on the videos and a working group of the ARL Member Engagement and Outreach Committee, who hosted the ARLIES, presented the awards.
The Libraries were awarded Best Humor and Best Performance for UF Architecture and Fine Arts Library SPEED TOUR. Created by communications assistant, Rae Riiska, and communications interns, Aimee Sullivan and Emily Webster, this video is a nonstop thrill ride highlighting one of the Libraries coziest branches. Modeled after the viral real estate agent’s speed tour videos, Trent Miller, this video is the antithesis of the general idea of a library.
This was the second time the Libraries have submitted to the film festival. Last year’s entry, Good As Old, showcased the book and paper conservator, Katie Smith, as she details the nuances of repairing anything and everything that comes into her office.
Other winners were:
ARLIES Film Festival 2025 Winners Selected by ARL Membership
Best Collections-Focused Film: Descendants of African American Poet Discover their Roots in LSU Libraries Special Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries
Behnoush Tavasolinia and Christine Wendling
This film celebrates the power of family, heritage, and the preservation of African American literary history as it follows two Maryland cousins on their journey to discover their grandfather’s long-lost poetry book at LSU Libraries Special Collections.
Best Development/Fundraising Film: Rhapsody in Jayhawk Blue: The Centennial Celebration of Watson Library, University of Kansas Libraries
Kayla Higginbotham (Cub Bear Creative)
KU Libraries welcomed close friends for “Rhapsody in Jayhawk Blue: The Centennial Celebration of Watson Library” on September 19, 2024, a glittering night of festivities that commemorated this 100-year milestone with pizzazz.
Best Free-Form Film: UW Libraries Student Guide: Barbie Edition, University of Washington Libraries
Braedyn Reed and Sandy Hawley
The Year of Barbie may be over, but it’s never too late to explore our world of resources, and find what you are looking for!
Best How-To/Instruction Film: How to Find a Book in the Stacks, Duke University Libraries
Aaron Welborn, Janelle Hutchinson, Megan Crain
Follow the Littlest Blue Devil as he uses Library of Congress call numbers to find a book in the Duke University Libraries.
Best Publicity/Marketing Film: Gen Z–Scripted Tour of UCSB Library, University of California, Santa Barbara Libraries
Johannes Steffens, Bob Nieder, Emily Savage, Jessie Ward O’Sullivan, Gaurav Chakravarty, Sidney Campbell, Carley Palmer, Caz Carter
A tour of the UC Santa Barbara Library led by a Baby Boomer–generation library employee who uses Generation Z slang to describe key library collections, services, spaces, expertise, and building policies.
Best Reflection of Inclusion: What We Have to Offer, University of Michigan Library
Alan Piñon, Laurie Alexander
U-M librarians give a quick overview—in languages other than English—of the wide range of services available from the library. This is just a sampling of the multilingual librarians on staff.
Best Production: Antarctica’s Wonders Captured Through a Texas A&M University Libraries Camera, Texas A&M University Libraries
Richard Nira
On Texas A&M University’s first-ever study abroad trip to Antarctica, grad student Alyssa Schaechinger ’24 captured the continent’s picturesque wildlife and vast, icy expanses through high-end photo and video equipment from the Texas A&M University Libraries’ Tech Bar.
Best Picture: breathe., Emory University Libraries
Alina Rahim
This is a student-produced Instagram Reels short film that showcases the benefits–from a student perspective–of a contemporary art exhibition in Emory’s Woodruff Library Schatten Gallery.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
