Podcasts are a wonderful tool for promotion of the library program and a great avenue for students to express their learning and develop passions. As a librarian, I could do interviews with staff and students and publish them weekly for the school community to listen to. Like this podcast episode I made with a future student at our school: my daughter, Ellie. Librarians could also create a podcast about events and weekly library programming. Students could create podcasts to review books they’ve read recently. They could even record a weekly book club discussion. A lively debate about different books and topics that could be researched using library resources would be interesting too. There are many ways to use podcasts in and for the library.
The first podcasting website I visited was Buzzsprout. This site was easy to use. The directions were very clear. I created my podcast and uploaded my first episode. I felt that it was very similar to Podbean, which I have used before. If you have a paid account, you can add dynamics and magic mastering to fix the sound dynamics on your podcast. The free account allows you to record 2 hours of content and it provides you a website for your podcast. The one thing I would wish for is the ability to record your podcast directly on the site. All in all, I really like the features that the free account provides.
The second site that I looked at was Anchor by Spotify. This site will let you record a podcast directly into it. Like, Buzzsprout, you have the option to monetize your podcast. I really like that even on the free account, you can add music to your podcast. You can also feature listener voices and add music for transitions. All of those extras will make the podcast sound very professional. This is an excellent option if you want to create a podcast for free.
The last website that I visited was Blubrry. This site is connected to WordPress and it asks you during setup if you want to create a WordPress webpage to host your podcast. Blubrry has listener statistics. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a free option to publish your podcast or create your show.
My choice for creating a podcast for my library is Buzzsprout. I’ve already created one and uploaded my first episode. I was able to load this site on my work computer, unlike Anchor. However, as I get more experienced with podcasting, I would strongly consider moving over to Anchor, since there is no limit to the number of hours that can be recorded on the free account.
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ReplyDeleteHi Alex! I really loved your podcast. Using your daughter to complete this assignment was a great idea. Seeing our little ones’ perspectives on public and school libraries is interesting. I also created my podcast using Podbean because it was a user-friendly app. However, I had never heard of Buzzsprout or Blubrry. After reading your blog, I will surely try out Buzzsprout since it seems to have everything needed to record and upload a podcast. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your reviews of the different podcast hosting webapps. My partner and I chose to use Podbean as well because of how user friendly it was. We were also able to add an intro and outro which I found so cool because it felt like it made our podcast legit. I also really loved your blog. What a fun and brilliant idea to interview your daughter, such a wonderful example of how we can use podcasts in our libraries.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I love that you did a podcast episode with your daughter! That must have been so fun to record! I never thought of a podcast as a platform to host book club conversations from! That is genius! I will have to keep that one in mind in the future! Thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteI loved your podcast, especially getting to hear your daughter's perspective. I agree with you on platforms, which is why my partner and I used Anchor to record our podcast.
ReplyDeleteHi Alex, your podcast with your daughter was too cute! I loved hearing her perspective on the similarities and differences between public and school libraries. What a great idea for a podcast! I think it would so fun to do a weekly podcast with a student for parents and students to listen.
ReplyDeleteAlex,
ReplyDeleteI loved how we were able to get the perspective from a student! I enjoyed listening to the two of you talk libraries. Such an interesting take!
Hello Alex!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the podcast that you did with your daughter! I also liked the idea of interviewing people from the community about different library topics every week. I will need to look into Buzzsprout and Anchor as resources. They weren't part of the resources I evaluated, but they seem like good ones! I especially like the ability to record directly into Anchor and even incorporate music! I think it would be a great one to use with students. Thank you for sharing!