Podcasting in Libraries

Library Podcasting at Washington State University Betty Galbraith Mark O’English Alex Merrill WLA Conference, April 20 th 2007

 SearchIt instructions  Tour of Owen Library  Interview with donor of Kodiak bear  Research instruction and advice for specific classes  Library instruction modules  Generalized research tips What we are doing at WSU

Before You Start … Consider  Why are you doing this as a podcast?  Who is your listener – audience?  Where will your audience listen?  What tone & feel do you want?  One or more voices?  Music or sound effects?  How long should it be?

 driving or walking 20-30 min long  seeking practical info 10 min, well organized & paced  out for a good time energetic & upbeat  conservative high quality  students fast paced & varied  business people concise & explanatory If your listener is: Your podcast should be: Podcast Design Guidelines

 Test to see what your voice sounds like  Do a draft of your podcast  Get feedback  Redo the podcast  Post your podcast  Consider copyrighting it Creating the Podcast

 Talk too fast  Assume users know more than they actually do  Wander - hard to follow  Monotone  Uh... Like... Mmm...  Booooring Common Problems

 Listen to a variety of podcasts first  Remember that verbal mistakes are noticeable  Pause  Be prepared to redo  Script multiple speakers  Practice, and practice again  Take time to create Things I Learned

Podcasting: Technology Issues Hardware Microphone. Splurge on a $15 to $20 microphone instead of a $2 one! Sound card for your computer. Older and cheaper = more staticky sound. Software 3. Some sort of recording/editing software. The WSU Libraries use Audacity (freeware): http:// audacity.sourceforge.net / Another (more technical) freeware possibility is GarageBand: http://www.download.com/GarageBand/3000-2182_4-10263089.html

Audacity One “ scary technology ” note: Audacity won’t quite work “out of the box” - it needs the LAME MP3 encoder installed as well, which is linked from: http:// audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s = install&item =lame-mp3 Have your techie person install it in the Audacity directory and then record one throwaway audio as an MP3. After that, you’re set for life. That ends the “ scary technology ” note…

Audacity is EASY: Record just like an old cassette recorder… Edit just like a Word document…

Feeling advanced? You have further “advanced” editing options in the dropdown menus: Your vocal timbre and volume can change as you go – record in one long track! “ Radio voice” makes later rearranging harder. If you make a mistake, keep going – remember the “cut” button !

Edit out your ambient background noises: Effect --Noise Removal Replace noises with silence: Generate --Silence When finished: File --Export as MP3

Saving and Sharing Your Podcast Streaming vs. non-streaming media (or both). Webpages Blogs RSS feeds RSS is really just a way to subscribe to something… Locally hosted vs. remotely hosted.

Other Toys Levelator (freeware): smoothes out audio levels. Hi-Caption (not freeware): view your text as well as hear it! Example: WSU’s Oral History Project Microsoft Producer (free with PowerPoint): Powerpoint with voiceover. Example: Circulation Training, Neill Public Library (Pullman, WA) Video Recordings? Example: at YouTube , search for Booktalks .

Some podcasts you can listen to: Booktalk sites - http:// ms.kmsd.edu/~msimc/podcasts_booktalks.htm http://www.hopkintonschools.org/hhs/library/podcast.html Call in and leave your own booktalk - http://www.reneesbookoftheday.com/booktalk/index.html Record and submit your own booktalk - http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/default.htm Librivox: public domain audiobooks - http://librivox.org/ Infospeak: UW iSchool student interviews about library issues - http:// www.infospeak.org/index.htm King County Law Library - http://www.kcll.org/aboutus/publications/podcasts/index.html Pierce County Library Podcasts Blog - http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/blogs.aspx?blog_id=7 Podcasts from the WSU Libraries - http:// www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/rssapp/rssreader.aspx?feedid =11

Congratulations – Most of the work is done Once the podcasts are conceptualized, recorded, mixed and encoded the rest is easy. Last production Step Web Accessible Directory Streaming Server (optional) RSS file Marketing you Podcasts Itunes U, University Channel, Stingy Scholar Podcast subscription programs Juice (formerly Ipodder), Prime Time, Nimiq

Last production Steps Things to say to your IT department. General (download only) I only need a web accessible directory This won’t need additional support Full featured (download & streaming) I only need a web accessible directory This will only need a tiny bit of support (as long as your institution already supports streaming media) I will encode the files (all you need to do is mount them) [Real Producer Basic – Free]

RSS feed creation Do it yourself (Can be tricky but not too bad) Easiest Way ---- Pull an already established feed from the web and modify Example Have someone else do it (sorta) There are some free rss builder tools out there. Rapid Feeds TD Scripts And some inexpensive standalone programs Alnera FeedWorkshop RSS Editor 1.1 Feed Editor RSS Creator 4.21 RSS Feed Creator (SourceForge) (needs add’l .net software)

Marketing and Distribution Sites ITunes/ ITunes U University Channel Podcast Alley Education Podcast Network Educational Feeds Publish your feed Syndic8 Daypop – News is Free Register feed w/ Yahoo – Google - MSN

Podcast Receivers Client software that automatically checks and downloads podcasts from subscribed feeds Juice ( Ipodder ) Prime Time Nimiq Itunes (of course)

Questions? Betty Galbraith Mark O’English [email_address] [email_address] Alex Merrill [email_address] http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/searchit/WLA_2007.ppt

Podcasting in Libraries

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Podcasting in Libraries