LIBR 246-12: Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools (Fall 2008)

Libraries can make podcasting more engaging, and thus gain a wider and more varied body of listeners, or, perhaps a core group of listeners with similar interests, depending on the focus of the podcast, by first of all considering who their audience is.  Are their primary listeners patrons who want more information about services that the library provides?  Are they readers who want critiques of new novels?  Are the listeners primarily people with young children that would enjoy storytime podcasts to make car rides more enjoyable?  One way that a library could glean this information from the patrons is to provide a web or email survey that asks patrons some simple questions about what they would like to hear on a podcast.

Once the interests of the listenership have been defined libraries need to focus on the quality of the podcast itself.  Would patrons be interested in the content of the podcast?  If the librarian was the patron would he/she be interested in the content?  Is it something that the patron would tune in weekly?

Another thing that librarians can do with their podcasts in order to gain or keep their listeners is to allow listeners to stream the podcasts via RSS so that they automatically download into a listeners RSS aggregator, or Mp3 library.  I get weekly podcasts of NPR's This American Life delivered straight into my iTunes library.  When I sync my iPod up with my computer the podcasts automatically get downloaded to my iPod.  Sometimes it's not until I'm in the car, or on a run, with my iPod until I notice that I have a new This American Life episode.  If it didn't download automatically there is no way that I would remember to go to the NPR website and listen to the show.

Podcasting is just one of the many ways to reach library patrons, but it can be a very effective tool if used correctly.