PowerPoint Storytimes?

I've given it a lot of thought lately, and I'm pretty open to the idea of projecting images of pages from books on a wall, and reading (or taping) the text that corresponds with the pages, as a different way of presenting stories to children. After all, I used filmstrips of picture books effectively in storytimes earlier in my career. I called them "stories on the wall," to relate them back to the original book from which they were produced. And I always showed the book to the children before starting the filmstrip. I used them sparingly, as a treat for the kids to look forward to toward the end of storytime, when their attentions began to flag. But I still feel that modeling the love of books and reading is a crucial part of what librarians offer their storytime audiences. And the comfortable give & take (speak and listen) human dynamic that revolves around sharing stories together. Children need to experience more than just images on screens and sounds from speakers. But more and more, culture is being disseminated digitally. That's what every younger generation will be more familiar with -- the audio and video transmission of ideas. So adding a PowerPoint story to my preschool (not Baby or Toddler!) storytimes is a goal of mine. I imagine that some of the picture book presentations already prepared by the more techie youth librarians in the large library system in which I work could be shared electronically. Even better would be for the folks who created Lookybook to market packages of their products for purchase and use by public libraries. I just love how the pages of the Lookybooks turn by themselves -- almost as if the viewer is holding the actual book in his/her lap. I will never condone the exclusive use of audiovisual media for storytimes. But embracing new story forms and incorporating them, in moderation, into my storytime routine seems like a way to keep in touch with my young audiences and to help bridge the gap between my generation of readers and theirs.