It is with great sadness I write about SLJ’s #3 Thing: Podcasts in this post without my laptop, and as a result, do not have access to my podcast subscriptions, nor am I able to discover if I have the ability to create a podcast if I so chose to create one. *sigh*

Anyway. I have yet to swamp myself with RSS’s the way I swamp myself with podcasts. It makes me wonder why there are seemingly so many out there to listen to. Is it because it is easier and quicker to speak than it is to write and edit an entry before posting it to a blog? Probably. Does it have something to do with most people’s comprehension abilities processing information faster when they hear it instead of reading it from a page? Or is because it’s something we can multi-task with, as we can have a podcast playing through our headphones while we do something else?

I began listening to podcasts as a way to make time for mindful/spiritual thinking. I commute a little over an hour each day to and from work, so I thought that would make for excellent time to listen to several pagan podcasts I had subscribed to. It’s nice to have a little ‘me-time’ in the car before and after work.

Some podcasts have introduced me to new music, new ideas, new food for thought. Some have responded to listener emails or interviewed a special guest. One podcast in particular is recorded by a group of people who share an hour’s long discussion over certain topics – which is fun to listen to with all their differing points of view and how they interact.

Once I have my laptop back in working order, I am very excited to learn how to create a podcast, though I’ll admit, I don’t have any solid ideas what it could be about. The teen librarian and I at my POW have talked about creating podcasts for our library; however not only is our website currently unable to be updated, but we’re not sure we have the tools to pursue our ideas.

Some of our ideas included:

• Spoken Book Reviews: at first, these could be performed by the librarians, but we thought it would be neat to interview our teens and kids about books they’re reading.
• Event Promotion: You only have so much space on a flyer or space in the paper. With a podcast, you could describe special upcoming events, detailing as much as you’d like – think of it as a commercial without video!
• Patron Interviews: Patrons (of all ages) could be interviewed, either as a way to help promote the library in how patrons are using our services, or to help promote community by having them tell us about themselves and gain a little feel for celebrity.
• New Book Excerpt: To help promote new books, department librarians could read an excerpt to help foster interest in new titles.

For now, we hold our ideas in our back pocket and await eagerly for an opportunity to learn how to create a podcast so we can test out our ideas… but perhaps in the meantime, someone else can take these ideas and make them work for their library. I’m looking forward to hearing how other libraries are utilizing the podcast!