Podcasting and Videocasting in Blogs

Podcasting

Another way to embody the human face aspect is to include dynamic podcasting within a library blog. This offering might also be extended to the user via a subscription service, using RSS. Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur, Georgia offers ongoing podcasts to their audience on different library topics. It is easy to navigate to the podcasts from their home page by clicking on podcasts (although it takes a visual search to find the word podcast on the homepage). However it seems to be a parallel source to the actual blog. The address for the blog is http://gpclibraryradio.blogspot.com/ and is findable using a Google Search on Georgia Perimeter College Blog. I could not find a way to the full podcast blog from the library homepage. Here is an podcast example. It is a 4:22 minute interview and poetry reading by Decatur Campus library assistant Yvette Appiah. http://gpclibraryradio.blogspot.com/2007/02/listen-up-25.html. You need Windows Media Player to hear this podcast. This service might be best appreciated on the go, especially for some of the longer podcasts. There is the ability to download to an ipod or mp3 player. I have subscribed to other podcasts. It is possible that I could see some value in using this personally.

A podcast might be a good vehicle for generating interest in topics that could then be pursued on an individual basis. However, I’m not sure how you might evaluate the effectiveness of this service as it is unlikely that users would respond to the airings. It might also be difficult to measure any additional library activity that stemmed from the podcast. Finally, it does take some work to keep it current and new, which could be an issue for some libraries.

 

Videocasting

Allen County Public Library in Indiana offers a video sharing vehicle for teens in their blog, ACPL Teens. The blog also offers other information such as upcoming events and a booklist, so it’s very comprehensive. Here is a video posted recently by the library. It was accompanied by some text that included a definition for hirsute, a suggestion to subscribe to a word a day via email or RSS, and a reference to further information on the cub in this video (Knut the polar bear) in Wikipedia.

Sometimes the teens post the videos themselves. It appears to be very active and there is the opportunity for comments which are also posted. There were seven video posts for the month of November. Because this service is kept up to date, I would think it might cause some good traffic. Navigation to this blog is very easy…one link from the Allen County Public Library homepage (click on the Teen button). Navigation to all the videos is accomplished by means of a tag cloud in the Teen blog sidebar (I think this is a nice touch). It would appear that this isn’t labour intensive to maintain. I think that a blog of this type might be a good way to generate interest in the library (and its other services) for young adults.

The features discussed here (IM, RSS, Videocasts, and Podcasts) may take additional time and investment of staff, at least initially, especially if they are updated on a frequent basis. In order to make them cost effective, they need to be very well thought out (i.e. podcasts and videocasts). But I do believe they can have a big payoff. It just might be difficult to measure.