Quest 12: Part Two - Podcasts

Today was my second day at SCLA in Columbia. I wanted to write about a fitting use of Podcasts on yesterday here at the conference. At the First General Session, SC State Library Director David Goble gave his introduction of the keynote speaker, Keith Michael Fiels (ALA Executive Director), via a podcast. He is actually in Washington, D.C. lobbying for more support for South Carolina libraries. This was a perfect example of how we can use this technology. Suppose you are going to miss an important meeting. You can make a podcast and have it aired at the meeting. What about using this to promote Library services at an Outreach endeavor? Or at a school to promote Summer Reading? I looked under the directory Podcast.net. The other day I tried to access a library-related podcast using Podcast Alley but I could never get it to play effectively. I was using a computer at the branch. Today, I am using my laptop and I decided to look for fiction-related stuff in Podcast.net. I found a cool site called Obsidian River Free Flowing Fiction in Podcast Form (http://del.icio.us/obsidianriver). It's place where authors submit their work and after a simple approval process their works are included in the directory and podcast. You can listen to a "live" telling of their short fiction piece. I listened to a story entitled "The Hitchhiker". It was a horror fiction story that had unique twist at the end. I have added this site to my bloglines account. I might even try and submit something to this site myself. Well, I think that I've officially finished this 2.0 course at the writing of this blog entry. It's been fun, interesting, and most of all beneficial to me in this library profession. I will continue to use many of these newly learned technologies as I know that practice makes perfect. Many of the steps that I started in this course, I need to review. The challenge now is to incorporate these technologies into my everyday online/computer habits so that they become a part of my daily process. Library 2.0 is here to stay. I participated in a concurrent session here at SCLA on today on Library 2.0 and learned how several South Carolina libraries are creating User-Centered versions of the 2.0 technology for their patrons. I certainly hope to do more with this in the near future. Yes! I have completed all 12 quests! "The race is not given to the swift nor to the strong, but he that endureth til the end shall be saved"

Quest 12: Part One - You Tube

I enjoy visiting You Tube. I've mostly used it to see things that I missed seeing on television or things that I can't see because I don't have cable television. I know, I know, I'm like the only person on earth without it! LOL! Anyway, when I hear about these infamous musical performances that occurred on these awards shows (think Britney Spears at the MTV awards), I can usually go to You Tube and find it. Remember when Beyonce' fell on stage or the now historical duet performance of original Dreamgirl Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson (from the movie) on the Bet Awards? I was able to see on You Tube. There are a lot of hilarious jokes and videos of bloopers that are on this site as well. I recall being able to show my mother who is a big Tyler Perry fan some rare clips of him in character as Madea. Found them all on YouTube. How can libraries use this source? We can put video of our programs on YouTube. What about author lectures? Interviews with Library staff about our services and programs? The Democratic party hosted a national debate on YouTube because they wanted to get in touch with the demographic that uses this site. They are those 18-25 years old that we are trying to reach. They are those computer savvy teenagers who are constantly using the available technology available to them. We as librarians have got to think outside the box and look at unconventional ways to get the word out about ourselves. We have to also learn and be able to utilize these Library 2.0 technologies to our advantage in presenting our message.