Librarian X

New episode of ALI went up today! Anna fans will rejoice to hear her back on the show after maternity leave from her podcasting duties.

We had a loose theme of collaboration this episode: teaching partnerships, campus initiatives and institutional outreach. Hence: Episode 17: Collaborama!

 

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Before I get too tied up in travel/conference prep, I thought I should post briefly to mention that I’ll be at Computers in Libraries 2010 in Virginia next week. My co-podcaster Rachel Borchardt and I are speaking about podcasting as part of a session called “From Podcasts to Blogs and Beyond.” The relevant bit of the session description is:

Podcasting is a low-cost, innovative way to reach out to users and supplement in-person teaching. Speakers discuss both instructional design and technological how-to, drawing on their own and other libraries’ experiences producing library podcasts for undergraduate students, and ways to integrate podcasts with other instructional activities.

We’ll also be talking (a little bit) about our podcast Adventures in Library Instruction.

That’s Wednesday April 14 at 1:30, in Track E, “Learning: Expanding Our Knowledge.” I’ll be there for the rest of the conference too, of course. Say hi.

We just posted episode 12 of the Adventures in Library Instruction podcast. Our guest Lauren Pressley joins us to talk about learning objects: what they are and how we make and use them. More info here or just press play below.

 

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This is a quickie post — I’m just back from Internet Librarian 2009, and several people at my podcasting cybertour asked me to post my slides. So, here!

I’m never really convinced that my slideshows are much use on their own (otherwise why bother presenting? You could just look at the slides).

I had a good time slot and a lot of people turned up for this session — I’m just sorry I only had 15 minutes!

I guess I got busy and forgot to mention this, or something. ACRL has very kindly invited me back for an encore presentation of my webcast “Podcasting for Libraries” on October 1. I’ll try to include as many other words as I can think of that include the suffix “-cast.”

Webcast description:
Podcasting is like an Internet radio show, or a blog with audio.  It uses the power of RSS syndication to automatically deliver new episodes to listeners.  There are millions of podcasts available, covering nearly any topic imaginable.  Any library can produce a podcast using free software and inexpensive hardware.  If you can post to a blog and talk into a microphone, you can create a podcast.  How can your library use podcasting as a tool for teaching, promotion, outreach and programming?

This session will explore:
• What a podcast is and isn’t
• How RSS makes a podcast work
• Free and cheap hardware and software for podcasting
• Recording and production
• Publishing and sustaining a podcast
• How libraries can use podcasting
• Finding the right voice to reach your audience

Registration is open now. I’m sure I’ll mention it again here closer to the event.

I’m on the Games in Libraries podcast this month, talking about my gaming and virtual worlds exhibit and how it contributed to my instruction work in unexpected ways. Enjoy!

 

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This is the class “handout” for my webcast presentation “Podcasting for Libraries,” June 2 at 2pm Eastern. If I’ve left off anything you’d find useful, leave a comment and I’ll update this post.

Overviews and definitions

Podcasting in Plain English video

Wikipedia: Podcast

Puckett, J. (2008, February 10). Podcasting in Academic Libraries. Jason Puckett.net. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from http://jasonpuckett.net/projects/podcasting-in-academic-libraries/

Wikipedia: Web feeds

RSS in Plain English video

What Everybody Ought To Know About Podcasting: Part I

Software: recording and podcatching

Audacity (free, Mac/Windows/Linux, audio recording/editing)

Camtasia ($299, Mac/Windows, audio/video recording/editing)

Garageband (part of iLife suite, $79 [cheaper at Amazon], Mac only, audio recording/editing)

iTunes (free, Mac/Windows, podcatcher)

Juice (free, Mac/Windows/Linux, podcatcher)

PodNova (free, Mac/Windows/Linux, podcatcher)

Hardware

I’m not an audiophile by any means, but these are microphones that have worked well for my podcast recording. If your institution has a media production expert, they can probably give you better advice on alternatives than I could!

Blue Snowball microphone

Logitech USB headset

Software: publishing

WordPress
But just about any blog platform will work. I’m presently publishing a podcast on Blogspot, and I’ve briefly tested podcasting from Typepad as well.

Podpress
This free WordPress plugin allows you to easily add podcast media files to your blog, and adds a nice playback button to the page when published.

iTunes U
Information on the ITU program from Apple.

Feedburner
For analyzing traffic to your podcast’s RSS feed.

Podsafe music

Internet Archive
Much of their audio collection is copyright-free or Creative Commons licensed.

Podsafe Audio

Podsafe Music Network

Magnatune
This online music label licenses all their music for free use in noncommercial podcasts.

Library Podcasts

“Podcasting” at Library Success Wiki

Emory Library Survival Guide podcast

Tisch Talks

Arizona State U Library Channel

Worthington Libraries programming podcasts

U of Toronto iSchool podcast

Dekalb County Public Library

Hopkinton School booktalks

Ohio U Library Tours

Recommended Reading

Braun, L. (2007). Listen up!: podcasting for schools and libraries. Medford N.J.: Information Today.

Colombo, G., & Franklin, C. (2005). Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting. Que.

Deal, A. (2007, June 4). Podcasting: A Teaching with Technology White Paper. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from http://connect.educause.edu/blog/jklittle/podcastingateachingw/44653.

Griffey, J. (2007). Podcast 1 2 3. Library Journal, 132(11), 32-34.

Mizrachi, D., & Bedoya, J. (2007). LITE Bites: broadcasting bite-sized library instruction. Reference Services Review, 35(2), 249-256. doi: 10.1108/00907320710749164.

Stephens, M. (2005). Libraries Get Podcasting. Library Journal, 130, 24.

Williams, B. (2007). Educator’s Podcast Guide. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Worcester, L., & Barker, E. (2006). Podcasting: Exploring the Possibilities for Academic Libraries. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 13(3), 87-91.

It’s up! We had fun recording this episode.

In the course of post-recording dissection, we all agreed that the interviews and discussion segments are a lot more interesting to listen to than the solo segments. We’re going to to more of that in the future.

We’re serious about wanting contributions from other people, so let me know if you’ve got something instruction-related you’d like to talk about on the show. I’ll do all the heavy lifting and audio engineering.

Links: to the episode, the ALI podcast, RSS feed, and subscribe in iTunes.

 

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So without my planning on it, this has been a podcast-intensive week.

At work, I posted the first episode of the GSU Library Insider podcast for students, about EndNote and Zotero (since it’s the end of the school year and students are furiously writing papers).  (Episodes, RSS Feed)

On my own time, I’m pleased to debut the Adventures in Library Instruction podcast, co-produced with my friends Anna Van Scoyoc of New Jersey PL and Rachel Borchardt of American U.  This will be a monthly thing, and we’re hoping to get other people involved in future episodes.  (Episodes, RSS Feed)

Update: I was also on T is for Training! I promise to stop podcasting now.

 

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 GSU Library Insider podcast episode 1 (EndNote and Zotero): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I have been so busy since the start of fall semester that I didn’t post our first podcast episode of the year over here.  (We decided to take the ugly former podcast page and stick the feed into a nice shiny Libguide this year.)

We’ve got a new catalog, “DiscoverE” (aka Primo by Ex Libris), and Rachel and I thought we should start the school year off by talking about it.  We try in these episodes just to give students a teaser telling them about what the resource of the month can do for them, without getting into the how-to of it, and telling them where to go for more info.  I think we did a pretty fair job this time.

Oh, and here’s the podcast feed.

 

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