Delivering Substance: Using RSS & Podcasts in the teaching library

1. Delivering Substance: Using RSS & Podcasts in the teaching library NYMA JLA Presentation May 17, 2007 Kathryn Shaughnessy Assistant Professor Instructional Services Librarian

2. RSS in Libraries RSS is… Rich Site Summary Really Simple Syndication A growing method of delivering text & audio information • Time-shifted or real-time notification of web-site update • Self-selected or personalized syndication • An informational broadcast in “lite-XML” or RDF • Users access RSS feeds at their convenience via aggregator or Feed-reader

3. RSS in Libraries RSS timeline… • 1997: Dave Winer (Userland) develops “scriptingNews” format • 1999: Userland & Netscape “RSS0.91” continue to develop and improve upon formatting versions, simplifying and standardizing the XML • 2000: RSS 1.0 developed by Dornfest (O’Reilly) using RDF and namespaces; DW/USerland develop xml version of “RSS 0.92” • 2002: MetaWeblog API uses Winer’s RSS 0.92 with XML-RPC for Blogging delivery; DW designs xml-based RSS 2.0 • 2003: RSS 2.0 Specs released through Harvard under a Creative Commons license • 2004: “iPodders” search for a way to retrieve old blogs and audiofiles – develop RSS (Winer) and podcast software (Curry) for podcast delivery From RSS at Harvard Law, by Dave Winer & Hobson & Holtz

4. RSS in Libraries RSS evolution … • News delivery • Business applications--Marketing • Website updates • Blogging : Personal / information sharing • Podcast delivery • Education & Research

5. RSS in Libraries Current Uses of RSS in Libraries • Podcast feeds for lectures and class projects • Scholarly Communication/Open Access journal updates • Library News/Program updates • New book updates • ProQuest (Currently Business) & Ebsco (in Development) • Information sharing among professionals

6. RSS in Libraries RSS for Professional Development in Libraries • RSS feeds from Professional Associations: ACRLog:http://acrlblog.org/index.php?feed=rss2 • RSS feeds from Professional Journal-Blogs Library Journal Tech Blog:http://www.libraryjournal.com/LJTechblog.xml • RSS feeds from other practicing librarians Stephen Bell (Academic) : http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/atom.xml • RSS feeds from Vendors/Innovators OCLC Lorcan Blog:http://orweblog.oclc.org/index.xml

7. RSS in Libraries RSS in the Academic Library • DLIS Academic Library or Education Admin class: RSS Feed from Chronicle of Higher Education • Guest Lectures: RSS feed of Lectures out of University Channel • Distance Learning: Setting up RSS feed for class projects within the WebCT or St. John’s Central

8. RSS in Libraries Creation of Online Content for Libraries: Tutorials  Captivate Podcasts  Audacity Blog  WordPress Wiki  PBWiki, WikiPM RSS is key to enhancing distribution / communication of instruction and timely research RSS & RefWorks Portal Group / Courseware

9. RSS in Libraries Practical Questions: • Investment of Money in a feedreader: minimal • Computer access • Aggregator: • free or fee-based • Desktop or web-based Newsgator (www.Newsgator.com) & Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) seem most popular now; a directory of readers is available through dmoz Does your institution already have a feed reader?

10. RSS in Libraries Practical Questions: • Investment of time to use a FeedReader: • to learn aggregator • to build up *your* collection of sites • Personal interest • Professional development • Reference-based • to weed out less-helpful sites over time • Investment of time to create feeds: • Use a blog to create an RSS feed • Talk to your IT folks about creating an RSS feed

11. RSS in Libraries • Strengths of using RSS in libraries (worth the time/effort): • Richer resource-base for research/reference • Facilitates keeping up in your specialty field • Facilitates keeping abreast of news within your organization • Convenience of checking all sites at once, on your own time • Sharing/Learning from other library professionals • Saves time in long-run, since info comes to you

12. Podcasts: History & Overview A podcast is… A growing method of delivering audio information • Time-shifted • Place-shifted • An informational “broadcast” saved as an audio file (mp3) and distributed via the web (strictly speaking via RSS) • Listeners download/listen at their convenience via desktop/laptop or on a personal player

13. Podcasts: History & Overview Podcasting timeline… • August 2004: “iPodders” search for a way to retrieve old blogs and audiofiles – develop RSS (Winer) and podcast software (Curry) • July 2005: iTunes supports/distributes podcasts, get 1 million subscribers in first 2 days • August 2005: 8,000 podcasts, 6 million listeners • December 2005: Podcast selected as “Word of the Year” by editors of New Oxford American Dictionary: "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player" • January 2006: iTunesU offers “free” courseware distribution Hobson and Holtz Report, 8/4/2005 http://forimmediaterelease.biz/index.php/weblog/2005/08/05/ ) Oxford University Press, US website, http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/NOAD_podcast/?view=usa

14. Podcasts in Libraries Podcast benefits: • repetition for difficult content/material & for listeners who have difficulty with English and allows multitasking (e.g.: commuting or exercising).  • increased “frequency and depth” of learner interaction, especially in language & music   -- inspired creation of podcasts – allows for “just-in-time” learning with subsequent in-depth discussion • increased communication between students & faculty (voice connection), but also between library and IT departments; led to improved collaboration and planning, both within & among institutions. Duke Report, 2004 – 2005 and SJU feedback 2005-2007 Podcast Pitfalls • Creating/editing takes time • Keeping them manageable size/length • Troubleshooting user error

15. Current Uses of Podcast Resources Reference-quality lectures (NPR, Stanford & Princeton) Patron Instruction / Orientation (Drexel) Community News (U. of Western Ontario) Outreach to potential students/users/members (Peterson’s) Scholarly Communication (U. of Florida) Audio tours (Purdue) CE / Professional Development (LOC, LIS radio, InfoSpeak)

16. Finding External Podcast Resources Finding New Podcast Resources: • Podcast Directories • Google search for “podcast Directory” • List-serv Bibliocasting • http://mail.asis.org/pipermail/asis-l/2005-April/001977.html • Archive at http://iis.syr.edu/archive/bibliocasting/ • Blogs and your favorite websites • Suggestions from others • Users, Other librarians, Subject experts/ co-workers/ faculty • Collaborate in a wiki! http://podcastresources.pbwiki.com

17. Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/results.php?cat=2&mode=a FirstGov http://firstgov.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/Podcasts.shtml OYEZ Supreme Court Podcasts http://www.oyez.org/podcast/ WhiteHouse Radio Addresses: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/radio/ NASA http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm AAAS Science podcast http://www.sciencemag.org/about/podcast.dtl UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_podcast.html BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/ NPR http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php For more see http://podcastresources.pbwiki.com Finding External Podcast Resources

18. RSS & podcasts in Libraries Future uses in libraries • For public libraries • For special libraries • For academic libraries • For outreach/equitable service to handicapped • For scholarly publishing

19. RSS & podcasts in Libraries Thoughts & collaborations? Please contact me: Kathryn Shaughnessy, x1454 shaughnk@stjohns.edu Instructional Services Lab, Augustine 304