#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

As a librarian you must know "everything" in the world if you are ever scheduled sitting at th Information Desk (Reference Desk in the old way)! That's how I got to know some basics on MP3, iPod and Podcast, but I did not use them. I thought they were for the younger generations. For the QL L2.0 program I have to learn more about them. Now I know they are useful not only for entertainment, they carry all kinds of information and can be used by everybody. It is especially true of Podcast, by which your voice and thoughts can be podcasted and heard all over the world through this Internet radio. I did some search on interesting library-related Podcast programs, and found that the Thomas Ford Memorial Library Teen Reviews is a good one. The reviewers are teens, the monitor is an adult who asks one or two questions. When you hear a Teen's young voice, you feel thrilled and feel convinced that Teens like the books they are talking about indeed. I subscribed this one and "this Week in Tech - MP3 Edition", also "Stuff Sheets.com Mathematics Pod and Anicast" in my Bloglines account. On my blog I subscribed , "President's Weekly Radio Address" as well as "this Week in Tech - MP3 Edition". At mypodcast.com the company lets you record and host your own podcast programs for free. I tried it, it's named "sherwood podcast", and right now I have recorded two very short pieces on health topics. Its RSS feed is added to my Bloglines account. Am I podcasting!? That's true, but podcasting to myself and a few who visit my blog only. Anyway this is a trial. The recording part of podcasting like conventional radio requires special equipment for sound quality (I don't have them, I did it with my home pc with an external mic). Professional podcasting in our library system can only be accomplished by the ITS Office; it' beyond the capability and necessity of community libraries, nor any individual librarians. And the library is not a world news agency. As far as we can see the use of podcast in a library system is limited. But we, librarians, have to know how it works as a new media of the Internet.