According to Wikipedia, “a podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device.” There are variants on podcasts including video podcasts, or vodcasts, which include video clips, enhanced podcasts, which can display images simultaneously with audio, and podcast novels, which is a literary format that combines concepts from podcasts and audiobooks. There are a variety of free hosting services (Archive.org, Cadpost, PodOmatic, Poderato, and SoundCloud) which can help users create their own podcasts. I chose podcasts as my fifth “thing” because while I knew what they were, I didn’t know how easy it was to create them or how and why specifically libraries would use them.
Apple is a large proponent of podcasts and have a large variety to choose from (http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/). They even provide information on how to create a podcast of your own. The Library Success wiki (http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Podcasting) provides a long list of libraries that have podcast feeds. They also provide a link to LISwiki, which has a list of Librarian podcasts for library staff (http://liswiki.org/wiki/Podcasts). I chose the Memorial Hall Library at random and their podcast feed includes teen poetry readings and recordings of teen poetry receptions. I also picked the Elon University Library. On their feed, they have various interviews with professors and librarians at the school discussing subjects ranging from QR Codes and eReaders to Banned Books Week and Diverse Voices in Children’s Literature. I didn’t listen to them fully, but just checked to make sure it was simple to open them and that listening to them was possible (which it was). I also found a blog by a librarian who said that “podcasting is increasingly used to post basic as well as specialized information of interest to library users as well as to staff in need of brief and readily available training on a variety of topics” (http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/importance-and-use-of-podcasts-in-libraries092508/) which I think is an excellent way to describe a library’s use of podcasts.
I think I have to put podcasts at the top of the list along with Elluminate when it comes to learning outside of a classroom. Podcasts can of course be used for entertainment, but libraries should definitely use them for educational purposes as well. Podcasts can be a beneficial tool for librarians to give information to their patrons, staff, or librarians at other libraries. One idea I have is that librarians with 20-30+ years of experience in the field under their belt should create podcasts on topics in the specific area they work in or maybe even create podcasts to give advice to MLIS students or budding librarians. Personally, I think it would be great to get information from those who have worked in the field for many years and I wouldn’t mind listening to that information instead of receiving it in text form.
One Trek Mind 