Tech

Thanks to Dave, who tuned the podcast idea into more focused form.

Each episode of the show will focus on one topic. The idea is to show off a number of perspectives on an area. Sometimes they’ll match up, other times they’ll be opposed.

Ideally, I’d like to keep a chunk of contributions, ready to mold into a show whenever one pile reaches critical mass. So please feel free to contribute to any or all of these topics for the first four themed shows:

-Beginning librarians – As a beginning librarian myself, I’d love to hear from others outside my University in the same position or just a few years into the field. Talk up your perspective! What do you think you bring to the job? How has grad school treated you? Any worries for the profession? Go in any direction you wish.

-Online publishing for libraries (Wikis, Blogs, RSS, Podcasting, etc) – Do you use any online publishing system in your library? Maintain a library-related system outside of work? What’s the setup like? What has patron/student/user reaction been? How would you like to see it used? I know there’s a bunch of resources on this topic already, so I threw it in as one I hope will draw up submissions fast.

-Google – A bad thing for libraries? Good thing? Somewhere in the middle? Google Print and Google Scholar in particular are hot button topics.

-Video games in libraries – I’ve seen strong opinions on this issue. Do they have a place in libraries? If so, which ones should be on the shelf? Got real life experience?

and:
-Grab bag – While I’d prefer clips on the topics above for practical reasons, feel free to submit on any not mentioned here. An occasional random show could be fun, but I didn’t want to splinter contributions too much at the start.

And you don’t have to be a librarian to submit. Work in a library? Use a library? Your thoughts are valuable too.

Please try to keep submissions to at or less than five minutes. I’m scaling back my ambition at first, aiming for three contributors plus framing comments from myself. About 20 minutes total.

On to new business: The ‘cast needs a name. Best I’ve come up with so far is “Voice of Libraries”, trying to play off the Voice of America name, but it seems too clunky and unoriginal. Maybe “Radio Free Library”? Rescue me from blah names.

Again, send submissions to Haefele@Gmail.com. Also, please let me know if you’re planning on contributing.

I’ve had an idea rolling around in the back of my head for a while now. For some reason, I haven’t followed through. Then, yesterday I read Meredith’s post about making ideas into reality. So, I’m gonna give it a try!

I’m going to make a podcast. I’ve wanted to experiment with one, but never had a content idea meaty enough. Then a couple days ago, it came to me: call in radio. Of course, it wouldn’t be live. But it can still work.

How many of you have something Library-related to say? You might not want to start up a blog, or the item might not be fleshy enough for publication. So, record it and send it in! I’m aiming for a length of about half an hour. If I can get 3 or 4 five minute submissions per show, plus ten minutes of my own commentary, I really think it can work.

While I said that a five minute submission would be nice, don’t feel limited by that. Shorter is fine, and even a little longer too. If you don’t have the ability to record yourself, I’ll accept short text pieces and read them “on the air”.

I’m really hoping there’s enough interest to get this off the ground.

Send submissions as attachments to: Haefele@gmail.com

I only ask that you avoid profanity and keep the tone civil. Please critique this idea, too. Refinements, twists, practical issues I’m not seeing, etc. In addition, I’d appreciate recommendations of software for creating podcasts in Windows.

Update: if you’re reading this via LibraryStuff (Thanks Steven!), I have a new updated entry with more details here.

Tomorrow morning I have to give a brief instructional session in my Library Instruction class. I’ve decided to go with a (very) basic intro to RSS for libraries and librarians. In an experiment, I’ll be running the whole thing from this post (with backup copies of links in hand, of course).

Now, if anybody is interested in the links I use in class, they can just come here and try things themselves!

What is RSS?
WebReference has an excellent intro guide to exactly what RSS is.

RSS example – my blog
In a shameless plug, this is the link to the RSS feed for my site.

www.BlogLines.com
Bloglines is a basic web-based aggregator (a method of reading and displaying RSS feeds)

Hennepin County Public Library – Minnesota
HCPL is one of the first public libraries I’ve noticed to include RSS functionality in their catalog. Look for the little orange ‘XML’ button.

HCPL search for “Rowling, J K”
Sample search to demonstrate the usefulness of RSS catalog feeds.

Wikipedia list of aggregators
If you’re interested in running a non web-based aggregator, Wikipedia has a comprehensive list.

If time allows:
ABC News Podcasts
And if for some unlikely reason I have extra time to fill, I’ll touch on ABC’s podcasts briefly.

Back in March, I mentioned John Scalzo’s effort to begin a video game collection in his library. Now thanks to LISnews, I have a chance to follow up.

In the new article, I find some pleasant surprises. For one thing, not a single game has come back damaged! I’m astonished. Very pleased, but also surprised. That damageless fact alone could do wonders to convince other libraries to begin collections.

I especially appreciate Scalzo’s attention to “Balancing games the public wants, games that are critically acclaimed and family-friendly titles…”