Of Library Crushes, Literary Podcasts, and Social Software Policies
Someone recently mentioned to me that they have a library crush.
“A crush on a librarian?” I asked.
“No, a crush on a library,” they replied slowly, emphasizing a long ee sound at the end of the word.
I thought about this for a minute and I realized that I did as well. There was a certain library that I once had been close to but, as often happens, I moved away for work and it stayed behind. I kept my library card there for a while but I eventually started using a new library system. I sometimes think about it, though, and perhaps sometimes I unfairly judge the library I’m currently using by the one I left behind.
Since this is a blog, I guess I should name names: it was the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon, which was once featured in a Decemberists song with the line: “I figured I had paid my debt to society, when I paid my overdue fines at the Multnomah County Library.”
Anyway, as part of paying my own debts to society, I’ve already written about this library’s use of twitter. As part of my library crush, I also wanted to take a closer look at its use of podcasting. The MultCoLib puts out a new podcast almost every week and the topics they cover, according to their own description, include library events, information about books, and overviews of library resources. However, it’s actually a lot more interesting than that. Looking back over the last couple of months, they’ve had podcasts featuring poets, authors, journalists, zinesters, and librarians who covered such diverse topics as Alzheimer’s, bullies, books, and pet adoption. They even have the occasional non-English podcast. And that’s just the last couple of months, their archives go back to March 2008. I wasn’t planning to, but I subscribed to their podcast rss feed.
A lot of these podcasts come directly from the events the MultCoLib holds. They either record the event itself or invite the featured guest to contribute to the podcast. I think this is a great idea that compliments the efforts that the library is already making. Libraries are often home to hugely interesting events and broadcasting them via a podcast only makes the events more accessible. People who can’t attend them directly can still take part. Patrons can discover and enjoy cool things that took place in the past. Libraries can feature and promote their events, resources, and relationships to the literary world (such as zinesters, poets, and authors). Even a standard podcast that just reviews a book can make the library feel more like a community and less like an one-dimensional institution. It’s good to hear the professionals behind the organization talking about some of their passions.
One thing that would improve the podcasts would be if they listed the running time on the web description of each individual podcast. They could also make them slightly easier to find as the podcasts are not currently featured on the front page; instead they’re a couple of links deep. To find them, a new user would have to go from the front page to the technology page, which does feature the podcast. I think a new user could figure out how to listen to the podcasts and there is a podcast help page to make things even easier. Each podcast has a “share this” button which takes the user to an Addthis.com page that allows the user to add the podcast to any social networking or bookmarking site they use.
Finally, the MultCoLib is one of the few libraries I’ve seen that publishes a Social Software Policy page. The policy discusses the definition of social software, comment moderation, and what things will get a comment deleted. However, it also features this line:
Library social software is intended to create a welcoming and inviting online space where library users will find useful and entertaining information and can interact with library staff and other library users.
Who wouldn’t have a crush on a library with that attitude?
