Method 11

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories.

2. Listen to one (or more) podcast(s) that you find.

3. Blog about the podcast(s). (Please title your post “Method 11″.) Did you find anything useful and/or do you think your library might have a potential reason to begin creating podcasts?

I visited podcast.com to see what podcasts were available on the site. The top of the page has a scrolling list of the newest podcasts. One of the most recent broadcasts came from Swedish Radio. The creator of the Podcasting in plain English video said there is a podcast for everyone and it definitely seems that's the case. I am interested in Sweden, so it's fun to see that one of the first podcasts I saw on the site was a news podcast from Sweden. I didn't even have to search for it in the results. It was automatically listed on the front page as one of the latest files. The file I listened to was in Swedish and is called "Dagens Ekot", which is a roundup of the latest news events. It is a podcast from a national and professional broadcaster, so it is more polished than some of the other broadcasts on the site.

I think podcasting would be beneficial for larger libraries, such as college libraries. It could work well for classroom lectures. The professor could record a lecture and place it on a website. Or the library could archive the lectures for students to download. I don't see any great success with podcasts in a smaller public library.

It doesn't take too much effort to create and upload a podcast, so I can see a benefit in that respect. One just has to record an event or speech or topic and place it on the site, although I don't think most people will realize podcasts are availble from their local public library. If they do realize it, I don't think many people would download and listen to them. There are so many podcasts to choose from that I think a small library podcast would get lost in the flood. There may be one or two people who listen to the file in the end.

Podcasting is economical and fairly simple, so nearly any library can add it to the services they offer. It may not become popular, but it's worth a try. If it works well, the library can continue with their podcasts. If it doesn't work well, the library can drop it and focus on other areas.