Best practice guidance: library skills videos

Mediacentral is UCL's media portal for sharing and streaming videos or other media content.

The guidance presented here details best practices and processes for library colleagues using Mediacentral to ensure consistent use and optimising opportunities for re-using, re-purposing and sharing content across LCCOS. Mediacentral also provides guidance and FAQs on how to use Mediacentral to host your content, but that general guidance should be used in conjunction with this library guidance.

• Best practices for using Mediacentral
• Assigning your existing Mediacentral content to the LCCOS Library Services category
• Uploading your video to Mediacentral
• Sharing videos hosted in Mediacentral
• Maintaining your content on Mediacentral
• What should I do when I leave UCL?
• LCCOS Mediacentral Administrators

• If your video is going to be embedded in a LibGuide (LibrarySkills@UCL or Subject Guides) or on public websites, e.g. a UCL webpage, you should host it in UCL Mediacentral.
• Ensure all your content in Mediacentral is allocated to an LCCOS category to ensure:
  • Effective management and monitoring of content by the LCCOS Mediacentral administrators.
  • Ownership of content does not need to be reallocated when colleagues leave UCL.
• When adding a video to the LCCOS Library Services categories, always add the video to the Mediacentral video record spreadsheet and keep information about your videos up to date in the spreadsheet. The Library Mediacentral spreadsheet lists all videos in the LCCOS Library Services categories on Mediacentral, including removed videos. The spreadsheet is important to ensure:
  • Effective management and monitoring of content on Mediacentral so we can ensure videos utilised in webpages, tutorials or Moodle courses are not removed from Mediacentral under the terms of the Mediacentral retention policy, and to facilitate videos being kept up to date.
  • An alternative way for all colleagues to identify videos for re-use, re-purposing and sharing, as the Mediacentral search facility is not optimum.
• You should not use UCL Mediacentral as merely a storage facility. It should be for videos that are currently being shared or in use.
• It is your responsibility to ensure you keep your content on Mediacentral up to date. See Maintaining your content on Mediacentral.
• When uploading a video to UCL Mediacentral, you must upload a separate captions file, and can also upload an accompanying transcript.
• You are advised to familiarise yourself with the UCL Mediacentral retention policy. Content that is older than 24 months and has not been viewed in the last 12 months will be removed. Content older than 5 years is automatically removed (Note: if it is shared on Drupal webpages or in Moodle it should not be automatically removed. The library Mediacentral administrators work with the Mediacentral team to ensure content on LibGuides is also not removed). If you find a video has been removed, please contact the library Mediacentral administrators.

LCCOS now has its own categories in Mediacentral, and designated LCCOS Mediacentral administrators who are able to upload updated versions of videos and remove redundant or out of date videos on behalf of LCCOS colleagues. This means:

• Easier identification of LCCOS videos by users and LCCOS colleagues, so facilitating easier re-use, re-purposing and sharing of videos, and reduced duplication of effort in creating videos. This is also being achieved through consistent use of Tags in Mediacentral, and a spreadsheet available on the Library Skills Teams site, which includes details of all Library Services videos in Mediacentral.
• Easier maintenance of material on Mediacentral, allowing for videos which are not specific to an individual to be updated or removed as required. 
• Implementation of processes to ensure LCCOS videos still in use are not archived or removed by Mediacentral in line with their retention policy, which archives any content older than 5 years.

From Summer 2025, library colleagues should assign their existing content to the LCCOS Library Services category, apply consistent metadata and processes, and add details to the spreadsheet as follows:

1. Retrieve your list of videos in UCL Mediacentral:
   • Sign in to UCL Mediacentral.
   • Click on My Account and select My Content.
2. Archive or delete any videos you know are out of date and are not linked to or embedded in any online locations, e.g. website, LibGuide, online tutorial, Sway, etc:
   • If the video may be useful to other colleagues to refer to as an archived copy, or there is a chance the video might be linked from an online resource, first add details to the spreadsheet (follow steps 3 onwards) and then Archive the video.
   • To archive a video, click on the 'Filename' to download the video. There is a space on the Library Skills MS Team site for storing archived videos at General > Files > Online Skills > Videos > Archived videos (no longer on Mediacentral). Do not change the filename, as this matches the Mediacentral filename.
   • To delete the video, which can be done once you have archived it or if no archive copy is needed, in Mediacentral tick the check box on the left-hand side of the camera icon. At the bottom of the page, tick the box to include deleting any associated files and then click on Delete selected media. Before clicking on Confirm, double-check that you have only chosen the files you no longer require as this action cannot be reversed.
3. Check whether the video is already in the Mediacentral Video Record spreadsheet. Note: Library Mediacentral administrators may have already added some of your videos where they are utilised in Library Skills guides or tutorials.
   • Copy the video ‘Filename’ from your list of content.
   • In the spreadsheet, do Ctrl+F and search for the filename.
   • If it finds the filename, you can edit that record in the spreadsheet. Otherwise, add details on a new line in the spreadsheet.
4. Add / amend details of each of your videos in the spreadsheet:
   • To view full details of the video in Mediacentral, click on Yes in the 'Encoded' column.
   • Copy and paste details to the relevant cells in the spreadsheet.
     Note: There are two URLs to add to the spreadsheet.
     1. The 'Share' link: Click on the Share icon at the top right of the video and copy the URL (this URL has 'player' in it).
     2. The 'Admin' link: This is the URL in the address bar in your browser (this URL has 'play' in it).
5. Ensure the video is assigned to an appropriate category:
   • A category should be selected from the following options:
     • LCCOS Library Services Public: For any Library Services videos to be publicly viewable.
     • LCCOS Library Services UCL All: For any Library Services videos to be viewable only by UCL students and staff.
     • Personal (Public): For any videos you wish to share with colleagues for review before making available. In this category the video is hidden and can only be viewed using the URL available under the 'Share' link. You should not retain videos in this category. They should either be moved to one of the LCCOS Library Services categories or deleted.
     • LCCOS Public: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (publicly viewable).
     • LCCOS Private: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (viewable only by the owner. We will request for this to be changed to UCL All).
   • To assign the category, either:
     • Change the drop-down menu in the category column for an individual video then click Apply at the top of the list,
       OR
     • Tick the check box to the left of the video(s), choose the category from the quick edit drop down menu at the top of the list and click Apply.
6. Assign / reassign tags and amend the description:
   Tags are only useful if they are consistent, so you should ensure you only select tags from the list available in the drop-down menu in the 'Tags' column in the spreadsheet. Further information is available in the document Tags descriptive notes. If you would like to request a new tag then please complete the Tag Request Form.
   • In Mediacentral, click on the Edit icon in the far right hand column for the video in your content list.
   • Click on Next to progress to the 'Details' tab.
   • Amend the description if necessary.
   • Search for appropriate Tag(s) in the 'Tags' search box, which are also listed in the spreadsheet, and add as required. Best practice is to add up to 3 tags.
   • Click Next to progress to the 'Confirm' tab and click on Finish.
   • In the spreadsheet, select the Tags you have used in the Tag 1, Tag 2 and Tag 3 column(s).
7. Mark on the spreadsheet where the video has been linked or embedded:
   • Select 'Yes' or 'No' in the 'In LibGuides?' column. If you are not sure if a video is in LibGuides, you can search for the 'Share' URL in LibGuides:
     • In LibGuides, go to the Content menu and select Assets. (Note, if you do not have access to LibGuides, or to the Assets feature, contact libraryskills@ucl.ac.uk). 
     • Search for the Mediacentral video Filename in the URL field (to identify a link) and/or in the Description / Metadata field (to identify an embedded video). Note: This will not identify any videos that have been linked from text within HTML in LibGuides. Best practice is to enter links as a ‘Link’ in LibGuides, which also assists with ensuring appropriate updating of links.
   • If the video is linked or embedded elsewhere, e.g. in an online tutorial, on a webpage, in a Moodle course or Sway, add the URL or a note in the 'Other known places embedded (URLs)' field. You can add multiple URLs on separate lines by typing (or pasting) text in the formula bar and pressing Alt + Enter to start a new line.
   • If there is a chance the video is linked or embedded somewhere, but you do not know for certain, put a note with as much information on this as can in the 'Other known places embedded (URLs)' field.
8. Check the data you have entered in the spreadsheet is correct for each video as you go along. If you wish to archive any videos, return to step 3 for instructions.

1. Sign in to UCL Mediacentral using the Single-Sign-On icon in the top right corner of the screen.
2. Click the Upload icon in the top middle of the screen.
3. Click Browse to select your video file and wait for it to upload (note the maximum file size and allowed file extensions).
4. Click Next to go to the Details tab.
5. Naming conventions:
   • Ensure the title of your video accurately describes the content.
   • The title in UCL Mediacentral should exactly match the title on the title slide of the video.
6. Choose a category from one of the following:
   • LCCOS Library Services Public: For any Library Services videos to be publicly viewable.
   • LCCOS Library Services UCL All: For any Library Services videos to be viewable only by UCL students and staff.
   • Personal (Public): For any videos you wish to share with colleagues for review before making available. In this category the video is hidden and can only be viewed using the URL available under the 'Share' link. You should not retain videos in this category. They should either be moved to one of the LCCOS Library Services categories or deleted.
   • LCCOS Public: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (publicly viewable).
   • LCCOS Private: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (viewable only by the owner. We will request for this to be changed to UCL All).
7. Add an appropriate description for your video. Your video will be discoverable via the words used in the description. Do not duplicate tags unless absolutely necessary.
8. Your UCL email address should already be included.
9. Tags:
   • Only tags from the controlled vocabulary found on the Mediacentral Video Record spreadsheet and Tags descriptive notes document should be used.
   • Please only include a maximum of 3 tags per video.
   • If you would like to request a new tag then please complete the Tag Request Form.
10. Tick the box to agree to the Terms of Use and Disclaimer.
11. Click Next to go the Thumbnail tab.
12. How to get the right thumbnail:
    • Mediacentral extracts some frames from your video that can be used as the thumbnail.  If one of these clips is the title slide of your video then select this.
    • If the Mediacentral clips do not include the title slide of your video then you will need to upload your own:
      • Take a screenshot of the title slide of your video and save it as one of the allowed file extensions (*.jpg, *.png, *.gif).
      • Alternatively, if you’ve uploaded your video to MS Stream (e.g. to generate captions), within Stream click on Video settings and then Thumbnail and Edit thumbnail. You can use the seekbar to choose a thumbnail from the video. Then right click on the thumbnail and save as image. You can then use that file to upload to Mediacentral.
      • In Mediacentral, click Browse to find your file and upload it.
13. Click Next to go to the 'Assoc Files' tab.
14. For accessibility your video should include closed captions and these can be uploaded here.
    • Click Upload Captions.
    • Click Upload file to find your captions file and upload it.
15. Click Next to go to the 'Confirm' tab.
16. Click Finish to complete the upload of your video.  It will be available once it has finished being encoded in UCL Mediacentral.
17. Recording your video in the Mediacentral Video Record spreadsheet.
    • Ensure none of the columns of the spreadsheet are filtered.
    • Scroll to the bottom of the list and enter the details of your video.
    • When entering a date please use the same date format as previous entries.
    • When entering your 3 tags, please select these from the drop down menu of the controlled vocabulary.
    • When stating whether your video exists in a LibGuide, please use the Yes/No from the dropdown menu.
    • If you know where else your video will be embedded, please include the URLs.

Mediacentral is a hosting service with a YouTube-style interface.  However, unlike YouTube, where users actively search for media to watch, Mediacentral is less likely to be browsed for discovery. We therefore use it as a platform to host content which we then share through other online platforms using a link or embed code.

To share your video:

1. Check media permissions: 

Ensure the video belongs to an appropriate Mediacentral category that supports sharing with the intended audience.

• Categories ending in "Public" can be viewed by anyone.
• "UCL ALL" categories will be restricted to UCL viewers only.
• "Private" videos can only be viewed by the owner.

Please use the following categories:

• LCCOS Library Services Public: For any Library Services videos to be publicly viewable.
• LCCOS Library Services UCL All: For any Library Services videos to be viewable only by UCL students and staff.
• Personal (Public): For any videos you wish to share with colleagues for review before making available. In this category the video is hidden and can only be viewed using the URL available under the 'Share' link. You should not retain videos in this category. They should either be moved to one of the LCCOS Library Services categories or deleted.
• LCCOS Public: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (publicly viewable).
• LCCOS Private: For videos relating to all of LCCOS or areas of LCCOS outside of the library (viewable only by the owner. We will request for this to be changed to UCL All).

2. Determine the sharing method for the intended location

There are two ways to share a Mediacentral video:

• Share a link to the Media Central Player.
• Embed content.

Not all online platforms support embedding Mediacentral content.

• Compatible platforms include LibGuides, Drupal, Moodle, Articulate Storyline, Articulate Rise, LibWizard tutorials.
• Sway does not support embedding Mediacentral videos, so a Player link should be added instead.

3. Locate the share code (share link or embed code)

• Mediacentral share codes can be found within the media player in Mediacentral. They are also provided in the email confirmation sent after a successful upload.
• The shareable URL will include the word "Player" - use this link to ensure the shared video opens in the Mediacentral player view.
• Note that URLs containing "Play" allow contributors and category owners to administer or edit the media listing. For example: https://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Play/114036. Avoid sharing the administration links.

 Steps to locate the share options:

• If you own the video, click on My account in the top right of the screen, and then My content. Locate the video in the list and then click on Yes in the encoded column.
• If you are sharing a video owned by someone else, search Mediacentral for the item and click on it as you would to play it.
• Click the share icon to the top right of the video.
• To obtain a shareable URL, select the Share option and copy the URL.

• To obtain the embed code, select Embed and copy the code. Choose the responsive video size unless a specific alternative is required.

Checking videos for currency / updates

It is your responsibility to ensure you keep your content on Mediacentral up to date.

• Regularly review your videos, at least on an annual basis, to check they are still current. The 'annual check for updates completed (Initials / Date)' column in the Mediacentral video record spreadsheet will indicate when your content was last reviewed.
• If there have been significant changes to resources featured in any of your videos consider whether to update them. It will be easier to do this if you have a record of what resources / webpages / screenshots are in your videos.
• Check the number of views in Mediacentral to prioritise which videos to update.
• Once you have checked your videos for currency / updates initial and date the 'annual check for updates completed (Initials / Date)' column in the spreadsheet. It is helpful to put a note here if you are in the process of checking and updating.

Updating videos

• Process in Mediacentral
  • Record the number of views before the re-upload in the Mediacentral video record spreadsheet
  • If you are over-writing someone else’s video, Mediacentral might create a duplicate in your name, which can be deleted.
• If the video is changed, make sure that changes are reflected in any contextual text on the page where the video is embedded, e.g. descriptions, indications of timing. Known places where videos are embedded are indicated in the Mediacentral video record spreadsheet
• Update the Mediacentral video record spreadsheet, including overwrite date.

Archiving or deleting a video

You should archive any videos you know are out of date and are not linked to or embedded in any online locations, e.g. website, LibGuide, online tutorial, Sway, etc:

• To archive a video, click on the 'Filename' to download the video. There is a space on the Library Skills MS Team site for storing archived videos at General > Files > Online Skills > Videos > Archived videos (no longer on Mediacentral). Do not change the filename, as this matches the Mediacentral filename. Once you have created an archive copy, enter the date in the 'Archived? (Date)' column in the spreadsheet.
• To delete the video, which can be done once you have archived it or if no archive copy is needed, in Mediacentral tick the check box on the left-hand side of the camera icon. At the bottom of the page, tick the box to include deleting any associated files and then click on Delete selected media. Before clicking on Confirm, double-check that you have only chosen the files you no longer require as this action cannot be reversed.

Prior to leaving UCL:

• Delete or archive any videos that are no longer relevant to keep in Mediacentral (See Maintaining your content on Mediacentral).
• For any videos that are still relevant and will need maintaining, agree with appropriate colleagues who will be responsible for maintaining them, and share any relevant files, e.g. Camtasia files, with them.
• Update the Mediacentral Video Record spreadsheet 'Owner' column to indicate the new and previous 'Owner'.
• When the new owner needs to upload an updated version of the video, they will need to liaise with the LCCOS Mediacentral admin to upload it, as on Mediacentral the ownership will still be assigned to the original owner.

Administrators for LCCOS Library Services categories:

• Helen Carney
• Rob Drinkall
• Adam Eades-Miller
• Sabrina Squires
• Margaret Stone
• Zoe Thomas
• Fran Wood
• Angela Young

Administrators for LCCOS categories:

• Helen Carney
• Rob Drinkall
• Margaret Stone