Thing 21: Podcasts

I have found that Podcast vary wildly in quality. When I checked the listing of libraries who have Podcast, I found very few Public Libraries listed. The first public library selected produced a 404, Page not found. I checked my Alma Mater, WSU, and found that the libraries there had used PodCasts as tutorials for students to learn how to use their catalog. Not a bad idea, but the narrator talked too slowly.

Denver Public users their podcast for reading childrens' stories. DeKalb county publicizes programs with podcasts. Boulder Public produces Teen PodCasts. PodCasting seems to be difficult to sustain. Many libraries only produce two or three a year. And it seems to be most successful at the college and university level.

Many of the podcasts listed on the wiki proved to be available. I would imagine that to make podcasts available takes an unbelievable amount of time. If we could find someone with both the talent and time, I could see these being used to teach patrons how to use the online reference databases. The biggest problem is that these databases are constantly changing and it might be hard to keep the podcast current.

For myself, I have found several technology podcasts that I find useful and entertaining. I like a lot of the NPR podcasts, especially the Car Talk Guys and Wait, Wait don't tell me!