I l lINFOTECH FEATURE

At the U n i v e r s i t y o f T e n n e s s e e at Chat-tanooga (UTC), we offer student workshops that rangefrom Coo! New Web Stuff (what's out on the web thatcan help make research or jtist plain life easier) and HowTo Use Google Scholar. These workshops are brilliantfodder for podcasting. In fact, the initial idea for our pod-cast project came from a student plagiarism workshop thatused music and mashups to illustrate "good" and "bad"borrowing.

Getting started is easier than you might think. There arethree key parts to implctnenting podcasting successfully atyour library; creating the podcast content, distributing thepodcasts, and, if possible, aggregating and syticing to iFodslocally (if you choose to manage and circulate iPods to yourpatrons). If yoti choose not to circulate the hardware, cre-ation and distribution are the only necessary steps to beginexploring.

Podcasting automatically delivers content in audio or videofomiat to patrons via an RSS feed, an XML file designed forsyndication. The flexibility of li.SS allows you to repackagemultimedia content in nearly unlimited ways, if you think ofindividual audio or video pieces as learning objects, RSS is thepiece that gives tho.se learning objects a direction and a des-tination. Distance education is a staple at many universities,and podcasts offer hard-to-beat advantages for those users.They are asynchronous, allowing patrons to choose whenthey want library instruction. They teach to multiple learn-ing styles. They allow for infinite review and reinforcementof skills. And they can be broken into smaller, more digest-ible chunks than the typical 5()-minute instruction session inacademic and public libraries. Simply, many patrons can hebetter served with podcasts.

At UTC. we have a robust instructional connection withour English department and our Introduction to Univer-sity Life sessions. These two areas give rise to our three pri-

J,mm Griffey is rhe Head of Library Information Technology, UniversityoJTt'iuu-isee at Chattanooga. His hli% Pattern Recogrn'tion (umnf.jafongriffey.nethii-)), discusses technology and library ismes. Griffeyand Karen Coombs arc airrently mntthoriiig Blogs and Libraries:Participating in the 2.0 (Unworth Pr), expected out in 2008

mary library instruction programs: USTUlOl, ENCJL12I, andENGL122. These three are the most systemized of our classesand are designed to take UTC freshmen throtigh the basics oflibrary research.

USTUIOI, Introduction to University Life, is otir most basicclass. It covers layout of the physical library, what library ma-terials are useful to sttidents, and bow to find the physical ob-jects within our walls. ENGL121 is designed to introduce stu-dents to the hasics of research, delying into the simplest sorts offull-text databases. And ENGL122 is our most complex class,where we discuss the ftuidamentals of information evaluationas well as finding non-full-text database articles, interlibraryloan, and other eccentricities of university-level research. Witheach of these classes, we use podcasting to increase studentlearning and ease the instructional burden on librarians.

LINK LISTApple iMacappte.com/imacAudacityaudacjty.sourceforge.netBloglinesbloglJnes.comBrooklyn Museum Podcastswww.brooklynmuseum.org/podcastsCamStudiowww.osalt.com/camstudioCornell's Mann LibraryPodcastsmanniib.Cornell.edu/podcastsdeLJcio.usdel.icio.usDenver Public LibraryPodcastpodcast.denverlibrary.orgFeed2JS {Feed to JavaScript)feed2js.org

Flickrflickr.comJahshakawww.|ahshaka.orgLIVESI i ves. so u re ef orge. n etOne Big Libraryfeeds.feedburner.com/librarygeeksPrinceton Public LibraryPoetry Podcastspplpoetpodcast.wordpress.comSunnyvale Public LibraryPodcastslibrarypodcasts.orgSUNY-Albany LibraryVirtual Touriiblogs.albany.edu/podcastsWindows (Tunes syncingdocs.info.apple.com/article.htmi?artnum=61713Winkwww.debugmode.com/wink

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You doiVt have to be amedia mogul to createaudio and video for iPodsBy Jason Griffey

Starting upThe first step is to identify existing content that might trans-late well into an lUidio or video format. Many librarians whoare experimenting with podcasls have started with the "vir-tual tour," since video is a natural for showing patrons around.Many museums also offer podcasts, and their efforts can begood models for libraries.

Other learning ohjects that seem obvious for conversion aretutorials that have already been screencasts, like something onhow to use specific databases or the basics of search strategiesand Boolean logic. Converting this sort of information to pod-casts is simply a matter of adapting from one video format toanother.

At UTC, our primary goal was to allow for the time-shift-ing of library instruction, to enable students to learn at theirown convenience. After looking at our instruction load, weSLiw that our basic introduction to the physical library classwould be the best choice for initial conversion. As the classesare currently taught, students are led through a sort of gamebefore they come in for their main class with an instructionlibrarian. The game and the session that follows are perfectfor the move to audio/video because they are suited for one-to-many instruction rather than being discussion oriented asare most of our other classes.

Another benefit: the potential for replay. For example, iion-iiative-English speakers can rewmd bits that need clarification.Hut everyone can benefit from instruction delivered this way,even if they only use it to review material that is ordinarilydelivered face-to-face or in online tutorials. Podcasts can alsobe elective as a precursor to in-person instructional sessions,because they can deliver prelitnmary information so usersare ready for more in-depth content delivered in a traditionalmanner.

Training, media creation, and RSSSome conibination of widely used software, traitiing, and col-laboration eases the transformation from librarian to mediamogul. For academic librarians, it is almost certain that some-where on your campus you have faculty who produce media,whether they are atftliated with a radio/TV department, helprun the university radio station, or just teach media studies.

WWW.LtBRARYJ0URNAL.COM REVIEWS, NEWS. AND MORE

Two Peas and an iPodAt the Ozarks Technical Community College LearningResource Center, Springfield, MO, we started podcastingwith videos from our college success seminars. Theseseminars include How To Study for a Math Class and TestAnxiety.

We worked with our media department to convert theseseminars, including PowerPoint slides, into iPod format. Wealso took one track from each library CD and made a sampleplaylist of our entire collection. Finally, we developed photocontent, with art images and chemistry symbols, that letsstudents review informational slides and images.

For another project we decided to draw science studentsto the video product by showcasing geology rocks andminerals that are covered in the lab practical test. We went tothe lab, took the pictures ourselves, and created a playlist oflab images. This has become one of the hottest downloadablecommodities for the video iPods.

We advise you not to go into podcasting lightly. We spentsix months preparing our ideas, talking with instructors,developing use policies and instructions, and training theentire library staff before going live. Implementers will needto prepare themselves for the trying times ahead whilekeeping in mind the main goal of providing users with anextraordinary service.—Lar/sa Hart & Amy Landon. OzarksTechnical Community College. Springfield, t\flO

Reach out to these specialists and you'll be surprised how ea-ger they are to help.

Combine this available talent with the ease of use buikinto Apple's media software like GarageBand and iMovic,and you can be producing high-quality audio and video in avery short time. [See "Hardware Made Easy," p. 34,] Don'texpect to be an expert overnight, but after a few weeks ottrial and error, you'll be making smoothly traiisitioned videothat looks better than your local public access channels.

Training issues nearly all relate to librarians' unfamiliaritywith RSS and how to create quality media files. Your videosdon't have to look like youVe screening them at the SundanceFilm Festival, but patrons are extremely media savvy, and will

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INFOTECH FEATURE

Hardware Made EasyThe other part of the podcast puzzleis the actual hardware needed forproduction and delivery. Many userscome to the library with iPods and will beable to access the podcasts on their ownhardware, but others do not have accessto a personal portable media player.

Our library's solution was obvious;let students check out iPods like theycurrently check out library laptops. Onthe production end, you need a computerfor editing. Individual librarians can usetheir desktop PCs as an AV editor, or amachine, say in a media center, can bededicated to the project.

At the University of Tennessee atChattanooga, we decided that we neededa standalone system. We looked nofurther than the Apple iMac. Its smallfootprint, preinstalled iLife software,including GarageBand and iMovie, andlower learning curve than "professional"AV software made it an easy choice.Models range from $999 to $1,999, lesswith educational discounts.

We also decided to put together ahardware bundle that would give us the

most content creation flexibility andallow the iPods themselves to be easilyupdated and charged by the circulationdesk. This turned out to be slightly moredifficult than originally expected, as wediscovered limitations of the iPod and,more important, iTunes.

We repurposed an existing, olderWindows PC as a sync station for theiPods. This incurred no additional cost,and since its sole purpose is to pushcontent onto the iPods, it didn't have tobe particularly robust. We didn't evenneed the files to be stored on the localhard drive of the PC, since iTunes workswith networked drives. The files live onthe network and are pushed to the iPodsthrough a low-powered PC.

Dozens of free tools are available toassist in creating audio podcasts, forboth Mac and PC users. Audacity [see

Link List, page 32] is the most popularaudio editing free open source programfor Windows. It allows fast editing,clipping out pauses, combining clips intoa single piece, and even denoising andcleaning up audio fuzz. It is available forother platforms but is commonly used asan editor for MP3s on Windows.

For video, the software is far morecomplicated. There isn't yet a standoutin the Windows freeware/open sourceworld in the same way that Audacityserves for audio, but two potential opensource contenders are Jahshaka andLIVES. However, it is still best to invest insome inexpensive video editing software.Nearly any entry-level video software likeMicrosoft Windows Movie Maker lets youcreate the simple sorts of clips you maywant for basic library podcasts.

Another suggestion for video podcasts:use some sort of screencast software todemonstrate interfaces and navigation,especially for things like how to use librarydatabases. On the commercial side ofthe world, the two leading packages areAdobe's Captivate and Camtasia, but someupstart open source competition comesfrom Wink and CamStudio. Try before youbuy.—Jason Griffey

pass judgment on poorly produced media in [he same way thatlibrarians pass judgment on poorly designed web sites. If theinformation doesn't look or sound good, it is likely to be per-ceived as not being good. In the audio realm, you don't needto produce 5.1 THX surround sound, but you do have to payattention to the basics of enunciation and volume.

The good news is that the RSS education problem is solv-ing itsdf, if slowly. More and more libraries are working withblogs. wikis, del.icio.us, Flickr. and other Web 2.0 sites thatoffer RSS, and many librarians are using aggregators likeBloglines to pull in RSS for consumption. The link betweenRSS and podcasting is that a podcast is an RSS feed with anenclosure. In very basic terms, an RSS enclosure is just sometype of multimedia content; an Ml'3, AVI, MPEG, or othermedia tile. Technically, .m enclosure can be any sort of bi-nary content (RSS could be used to "feed" program updates,called appcasting), but for the purposes of a podcast we'relimiting those enclosure types to media files, almost always inthe form of an MP3 for audio or an MPEG for video. Thus.RSS has established itself through wide usage and implemen-tation. It is the essential delivery mechanism for podcasts.

Since anything that plays well with RSS can potentiallybe distributed via a podcast, you can leverage these feeds inlots ot iun ways. Want to highlight some of your podcastson your web site? Include the RSS feed in the HTML, andanyone visiting your page will see and can grab the audio orvideo they are interested in if you enable downloads. Doesyour school use Blackboard as a class management system? Itis simple to inclnde a feed inside existing classes that need theparticular bit of library instruction you are pushing out viapodcast using feed2js and other free software.

What if I don't have an iPod?When I mention this project, many patrons and librarians ask,•'But what if [ don't have an iPod?" While it seems that onsome campuses iPods are required tor entry, not every studentowns that omnipresent Apple product.

The truth is that any portable MP3 player can handle anaudio podcast, and, failing that, any computer can decode andplay the file. So every computer on campus and off becomesa player If a user simply visits your web site or logs into coursemanagement software like Blackboard.

Video is slightly more complicated, because a clear, univer-sal standard has not yet emerged in the same way as MP3 hasfor audio. You can provide ditTerent feeds for different videotypes and by sticking with the more prevalent standard.s be surethat you are providing a file that can be accessed by the wid-est number of patrons. Owing to the ubiquity of video iPods, aspecific flavor of MPEG4 {H.264) is emerging as a standard torvideo delivery. It is viewable on most every portable video de-vice beiiig sold these days (including the Playstation Portable).

Librarians 2.0Librarians will continue to have to develop new skills that maynot have been predicted by our MLS degrees. When I wentto library school in 2002-04 at the University of North Caro-lina-Chapel Hill, I don't remember a Multimedia for Librar-ians class being available. Our roles as librarians keep shiftingto meet the needs and desires of our patrons. We have pickedup web skills, programming, and instructional design. Now,let's dive into a little video editing, cue up the audio, fmd theclipboard, and learn why Apple has sold so many of those littlewhite multimedia objets d'art. •

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