Thing 7 Podcasts

I found this Thing very informative, I have not used podcasts much before, I've listened to radio station podcasts a couple of times, that's it.
I had heard of Audacity and Soundcloud but had never used them.
At the moment, I am not really interested in making my own podcasts.
While my job is information related I don't have an 'audience' as such but I can definitely see how they would be useful to embed in your blog or link to your twitter if you were very active on these sites. I decided I would try listening to some podcasts as my task for this week rather than making my own one.
I browsed through the various titles I found one I liked the sound of - Library Marketing Toolkit which was an interview with Ned Potter. I was interested to find out that Ned had founded LISNPN - a network of new professionals working in libraries with members in 60 countries, I made a note of it for further reading as I would be very keen on joining, even though I'm not exactly new!
I found the interview very good, it was packed with ideas for how to market your library, with a focus on marketing your services and what you an do for an individual and their circumstances rather than broadcasting what resources you have to a wider audience. An example was used of someone looking for a job - would they be aware that their local library would possibly have books on how to write you CV, interview tips etc? They might not necessarily think of going to the library for this reason at all.
Ned also spoke of the value of social media for communicating with users and also for getting feedback on what you do or on what people think you are not doing. He mentioned that there is not necessarily a need to market the fact that libraries have books for example as we can assume that people know that, but we should package different services or subjects/themes for different interest groups.
Perhaps like a display table of job search/CV/interview techniques books/ websites etc. and a seminar that could be advertised on flyers as well as social media.
He also emphasised that marketing should always be running in the background, that it should be gradual and that it should aim to inform the public what is happening in the library and what libraries do which in some cases may change what they thought libraries did. eg. If you have market to job seekers regularly over time, if someone finds a friend is looking for a job they would automatically suggest to them to use the library in their search.

What I like about listening to the podcast too was that I wasn't bound to the computer, I could do bits and pieces around the house - I cooked my dinner while I was listening, it's great having a radio show that is so specific to your interests! Provided that you are home alone I guess! It can be hard to get the time to sit down and read so I definitely would use it again, it would also be very good if you were commuting or out for a long walk and you wanted to get some inspiration!