Over the past year, the use of Podcasting in higher education has exploded. Many colleges and universities now have a presence on iTunes and other podcast directories where they make recorded lectures (in MP3 format) available to students and other interested individuals. Students also have become content creators, developing audio assignments for their classes that allow them to express their creativity. The utility of podcasting in the classroom is obvious, but does podcasting have a place in libraries? Yes!
Libraries have started using podcasting to disseminate news and information, provide audio tours of the library, and to make the audio portion of library programming available to the world. Some libraries have been very successful with their podcasts while others have produced podcasts that do not capture the attention of the intended user. It often takes a good deal of planning to make a podcast both technologically sound and engaging.
Emily Melton Says: April 12th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Podcasting is booming right now because of its versatility and portability. After all, you can’t drive a car and read blogs, but you can listen to your iPod. This technology can be especially beneficial when it comes to libraries and other areas of knowledge distribution.
As a student, I can’t agree with you more about the importance of considering your public in podcasting. It really does mean the difference between the success and failure of a program. College students tune out to subjects that can captivate senior citizens.
John Iliff Says: April 12th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Hi Emily: This is something that Chris mentioned in his podcast more than mine, but I did want to respond that you are correct. Considering the audience, and program planning in general, are critical to podcast listenability. My non-librarian wife can attest to this. She has very little interest in my podcasts, which are geared toward my colleagues in the library field. Unfortunately, she often listens to portions over and over as I edit the programs and she wishes she could tune them out.
Thanks for the input- John Iliff
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