Thing 25: Podcast and Video in the lib.

I've looked at the recommended sites: Denver PL, ASU, and others, and think they're definitely on the right track. I, personally, am not the podcast junkie. But for those who are, the more podcasts, the better.

That being said, one has to approach it wisely. Much as I'd love to see podcasts and videocasts available for VBPL, I'm not advising just throwing stuff out there because we can. First we need to gauge who is likely to benefit from podcasting, who are they, and what are they looking for?

Next, we need to be able to know how often our pod/video casts are being used. Enough to continue? Or haven't we found the right audience/topics yet?

And of course it goes without saying that once we start, we need to make every effort to keep them current and relevant. Once people know we're offering podcasts, they'll come back to see the new stuff - or will want RSS to automatically get the new stuff. If there is no new stuff, they're gone.

In general, I think we could make a sincere effort to try podcasting. I really like DPL's use of podcasts for the childrens stories. And Sheridan's/JHU's use of podcasts for scholarly research stuff - like explaining citations is great. They could use a few more about there, and hopefully that type of thing would grow.

So, VBPL, where do we start??