Library Podcasts

I explored the Denver Library and Seridan Library Podcasts. Both had parts that worked well and things I thought could be done better using a different approach. The Denver Library focused many of their podcasts towards children. They had recordings of books being read aloud, rhymes and songs. The strength of this is that these podcasts can be downloaded onto an MP3 player or CD. On the other hand I feel that Tumblebooks does this better allowing the user to have visuals of the story as well as more variety. This library also had podcast interviews geared towards an older crowd. I thought that these were good and would be of interest to anyone interested in this band.

The Sheridan Libraries at John Hopkins used podcasts in a way that would not work in a public library setting in my opinion. They had recordings discussing the layout of the library and how the librarians can help you. They also had podcasts explaining resources offered by the library and how to use them. I don’t think, based on listening to these, that anyone would choose to listen to them on their own. They definitely sound like something that would be used as a class assignment. On the other hand a public library could shorten a description of a resource and make it more concise. We could then direct customers to these for a quick “how to” option.