Thing #23: 23 Things Wrap-Up

Wow! It's hard to believe that I've now completed all 23 Things! Knowing that the current list of 23 Things was created almost 3 years ago (if not earlier), I wonder whether there are 23 newer things to explore and not what they will be. (They'll certainly arrive if they haven't already.) Over the course of explorations, it was pretty easy to tell which of the original 23 Things are here to stay (in one form or another) and which might have been flash-in-the-pan fads (the concepts with the most broken or outdated links?).

As I noted in an earlier post, podcasts seem to be the most faddish of the bunch since none of the feed directories or search engines had many recently updated podcast listings. The news outlets seem to be the only groups using it this technology regularly. Libraries had started to make use of them and then it looks like they just stopped for one reason or another. Lack of use? More effective use of other technologies?

The Thing that most surprised me was the general exploration of Web 2.0 technologies in libraries. It was interesting to see how even library catalogs have taken on aspects of social networking via reviews, comments, tagging, recommendation lists, etc. (a lot like Amazon.com!). Maybe someday we'll get to that point in my county..... How far we've come from author cards, subject cards, and title cards! (I probably just dated myself a bit too much by admitting that I remember those, haven't I?)

Until the next 23 Things.....

Thing #22: (Downloadable) Audiobooks

The first thing that occurred to me when I started this unit was why was just about audiobooks? Did e-boosk really not exist just a few years ago when 23 Things was first created? This unit should really incorporate both since many of the resources (i.e. Overdrive) we're investigating here do.

To me, it seems like downloadable audiobooks are one of our most underused resources. Maybe it just seems that way because this is one resource that people don't have to come to the library to access so we never see it being used like books. Audiobooks on CD get some of our best circulation numbers so it seems only natural that there should be a big audience for their downloadable counterparts. Part of the problem, at least in my library system, is that we don't do a very good job of advertising them to those who would be most comfortable using them (children & teens). When we first starting getting them, we mainly had adult titles but now we have more and more children's and teen titles available. (More than most of our staff probably realizes.) We've tried to ease access to them by adding them to our regular catalog and linking to the download page, but the link is a bit hidden within each record (and it literally is a link - a small icon of a chain link -- not instantly intuitive if you ask me). Of course, the fact that Overdrive and NetLibrary were unable to offer iPod compatible titles early on didn't help either.

I haven't made much use of these resources myself, sad to say. I think I am more of a visual learner so it's easier for me to focus my attention on printed text. One of these days I may try a downloadable audiobook though. Now, if only we could find a way to offer music in the same way.....

Thing #21: Podcasts

Well, it's clear in my explorations on the topic of podcasts, that they may have just been a passing fad. Judging by the write-up on the 23 Things page, they were quite the rage 5 years ago, when "podcast" became the word of the year in the New Oxford English Dictionary. Now, in 2010, of the three links to podcast directories that 23 Things gave us to look at, only one (http://www.podcastalley.com/) still works. 23 Things included a link to podcast.net, which is now non-functional, but I did find that there's usable directory at http://www.podcast.com/. Of the two, podcast.com is easier to browse through via the category listings and podcastalley.com seems easier to search using the search box. Searching in podcast.com didn't seem to bring me very reliable results when I tried looking for library-related podcasts. Podcastalley.com brought me much better results with the same search. Unfortunately, one has to wonder how long these podcast directories will last. In doing my searches and in browsing, I found that other major news organizations (ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, NY Times, etc.) there were few recent podcasts to be found. Even SirsiDynix and ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) don't seem to have created updated podcasts since at least 2008. (Maybe the directories just aren't finding them?) I could see that a few libraries (college and public) tried them early on, ca. 2006-2007, but most didn't last long. Perhaps it was easier for people to read their websites for information about upcoming events and the like rather than listening to a podcast.