Method 11

The Wide World of Podcasting

The first several podcasts I tried to play did not work. Exploring other subjects on Podcast.com I lost the signal when trying more pages several times. This was becoming frustrating and I was beginning to doubt I’d really hear any podcast. At one point, the session jammed that made Microsoft Explorer close.

After re-starting, I went to the wiki library listings and randomly clicked on the Belk Library Audio (http://belklibrarypodcast.blogspot.com/) and went to the most recent podcast about their databases. Temporarily, I was waiting, expecting video, like YouTube. Reminding myself this is strictly audio, I skipped over to the Lunar and Planetary Institute Library (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/library/mp3.xml) and listened to what was new at their library.

The next day, I was able to listen to an interview with a writer whose book I recently read. The podcast was about 59 minutes and I could pause, go back, re-listen to sections whenever I found I was missing something.

Being a visual person and comparing the same writer talking about his book on YouTube, I have to say I lean more toward the visual broadcast rather than podcast. However, simply listening can also free you to do other things, like having a radio or music on in the background.

How can my library use podcasts? Good question. I searched for my library and university on the podcast web site. Found podcasts by those who had taught or attended the university. Nothing created by my library, yet.

Off the top of my head, podcasts could be used by circulation to remind patrons of closing times, books are due, and when the coffee bar closes. These updates could be helpful to students, especially during finals. Podcasts of all academic subjects could be used by faculty in classrooms, by staff for software updates (although YouTube might be more helpful), by campus-wide announcements of benefit plan updates.