Recently, I started a podcast called Flip the Library at my place of work, where a colleague and I focus on the work our staff does it is intended mostly for our internal staff but is publicly available for our community as well.Īnother popular genre of patron-centered library podcasts revolves around readers’ advisory. The Escondido Public Library collects and shares local knowledge in its LibraryYOU podcast. A teacher outside Washington, DC, shared her excitement about podcasting with her students, leading the students to create their own podcast called 100% Kids, talking about fairness and injustice. Universal College of Learning’s library in Palmerston North, New Zealand, did an experiment with podcasting in 2006 to provide instructional materials to its patrons, such as orientation tours and information on how to use the online catalog. Others will broadcast about upcoming library and community events or feature various library staff members talking about their work. Other public libraries that preserve the talks done by outside speakers as podcasts include Los Angeles (CA) Public Library’s ALOUD at the Central Library, the Free Library Podcast from the Free Library of Philadelphia (PA), and the NYPL Podcast. The most popular podcasts produced by librarians as part of their work for patrons are edited versions of live events such as on-stage interviews with authors, for example, at the National Book Festival from the Library of Congress. Many of these podcasts are officially produced and distributed from their institutions, such as the Library of Congress, publishers, and even vendors like OverDrive. However, focusing on patrons is an equally valid and exciting form of podcasting. This chapter will deal mainly in the latter category due to my work on the Circulating Ideas podcast. Library podcasts generally fall into two categories: patron-focused or professional development. However, there are exceptions, such as Maurice Coleman’s T Is for Training, which is the longest-running library podcast and provides a place for librarians to bring up training issues, among other professional concerns, in a supportive roundtable discussion. 1 Most of the early library podcasts were produced by individual librarians on their own time, not as part of their regular job at an institution. In 2005, South Huntington Public Library in Long Island, New York, allowed its patrons to check out iPods with audiobooks preloaded on them. A few universities used podcasts to dole out homework assignments a decade back but quickly abandoned this method of distribution. Until recently, intersections between libraries and podcasts have been infrequent. Libraries have historically been engines of education, and podcasts, though a much newer phenomenon than libraries, also generate learning opportunities for their listeners, whether navigating listeners through a fraught election season, guiding nascent runners on their fitness journey, or digging deep into how stuff works. Both thrive on satiating curiosities and exploring one’s own imagination through reading, attending a program, or creating in a makerspace, filling the voids that users may not even be aware they have. Libraries and podcasts also have the potential to be remarkable facilitators of learning. Just as most libraries carry popular materials, a podcast can also entertain as its main goal. Many of the most popular podcasts have scaled their way to the top of the charts by telling an engaging true crime story or humorously poking holes in our culture through drunken retellings of the past. Libraries fill the world with stories, whether in the striking text of a physical volume or through the mellifluous words of a children’s librarian during storytime. The links between libraries and podcasts are more prevalent than might be apparent at first blush. Similarly, a podcast is not just an audio file distributed over the internet but also a tool that creates conversations, generating new ideas and concepts. A library, at its core, is not just a collection of ideas but also an institution that provides the means to develop and contextualize new knowledge.
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