Week 6: Podcasts

I really love that libraries are using podcasts to reach out to their communities. Podcasts are a great way to keep in touch with patrons and enhance library services. They are an essential learning tool, and can be used to share book discussions, lectures, and lessons.
Podcasts are a wonderful way to familiarize patrons with the library facilities and its holdings, as well as the services available to them. Many patrons may feel too intimidated by beginning their research in the library, so a helpful podcast would make them feel more welcome and confident. Podcasts can be used to outline basic library skills and bibliographic instruction, such as finding a book, searching a database, etc.
Podcasts are relatively inexpensive to produce and upload to the internet. They are a great way to promote library services and events while providing feedback to the community.
Podcasting also brings many wonderful opportunities for professional development among librarians.

Week 5: Social Networking

Social networking provides many unique opportunities for libraries to extend their public outreach. However, I don't feel that MySpace and Facebook profiles are the best ways to do so. For a start, the amount of effort that goes into updating and these profiles will most likely go unnoticed after a few months while audiences migrate to the next most-popular social networking service. Social networking fads move from site to site as one becomes more annoying/ad-dense than the other. Spam and offensive messages are also a big issue.

For the most part, social networking maniacs will spend much of their time compulsively checking other people's profiles, prowling through picture galleries, and updating their own. It seems more of a vanity than a communication tool, as Demetri Martin (hilariously!) describes: