Thing 21: Podcasts

Podcasts. Personally, I'm not seeing myself hooking up with podcasts. I'm more they type to hunt down something when I need it. I don't listen to NPR and tend to dislike talk radio. And I have enough trouble making my way through what I have recorded on my DVR to add even more things to watch on my computer.

But I can see how podcasts would be a boon to people who enjoy listening to things like the show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"--ehem, like my husband. Rick also subscribes to "Science Friday". By signing up for podcasts, people don't have to go hunting for what they like--the casts just come to them.

The possibilities for library use are great. Just like we have Dial-A-Story, where customers can call a phone number and hear a story, we could open it up and make it a podcast too. What's not to like about having a new story come to you every week from the library? But let's open that up even more.... How about some of the following: video podcasts of the story being read, audio and video of Storytimes, podcasts of Bilingual Storytimes, etc.

But we could do more than storytimes on podcasts. How about little training movies? We could show customers little tricks for searching the catalog. We are constantly asked what new books/movies/cds do we have on order or in the system. Why not do little tutorial movies showing how to look up those in the catalog? Show them how to use the bookbag function. How can I narrow a search? The list is endless.

What about a weekly update of things happening in the library? And tying back in to the previous paragraph--a training movie on using the events database would be cool. Or how about timely info like Pat talking about the budget crunch or asking customers for input on our 2020 vision plan.

So many possibilities, so little time.