Monday, September 10, 2007

Week 9, Thing 21 - Casting a Wide Pod

It seems to me that podcasting is now where web addresses were a few years ago. First, we started seeing those little www's attached to company advertisements, movies, and finally, just about everything ; now, we are reminded that we can listen to again, or hear expanded versions of, almost everything we hear
I've now found out much more than I knew before about podcasts; searched for, looked at, and listened to some library-related podcasts; and subscribed to LibVibe, the library news podcast.

Although sound-only podcasts are not my personal first choice for finding information and entertainment, I must say that I'm impressed with the uses people, especially library people, have put them to. How nifty is it for aural learners to hear how to use the catalog, get started on the Internet, or about any number of other how-to subjects? Story times available whenever parents are free to "attend" with their child? Well, you lose some interactivity, but maybe that's okay if you don't have to load Junior and Junioress into their snowsuits and boots and the van and get them to the library building. And Story Line is a perfect fit for podcasting - let's get busy on that one, Marketing and Youth Services!
Although I'm not eager to appear (audio or video!) telling a story on BCPL's future program podcast site, I'm sure that there are talented programmers in the system who would be delighted to do so; and podcasts of any special programs - author talks or "visiting expert" presentations - would be a boon to busy customers who can't get to the right branch at the right time, or who hear a rave review from a neighbor after the date has passed.
These are just some of the customer-focused uses we might find for library podcasting. I can think of staff training sessions that could be handled this way, too.

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