Week 9 Finding podcasts

This week I discovered and have a better understanding about Podcasts. I was asked to look at one or two of the Podcasts directories and find something that I find interesting. I followed the link in our instructions and found 609,000 in Google. I found an interesting Podcasts from Fairfax County Public Library in Virginia called BookCast http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/LIBRARY/bookcast/ where there are interviews with several authors. I listened to one about Ellen Crosby.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/bookcast/crosby.htm

I also looked and listened to NPR Podcast Directories and Library of Congress Podcasts. NPR had Summer book review and recommendations. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91364064
The Library of Congress had Podcasts from the 2007 Book Festival that is held in Washington, DC every September. I listened to Shelia P. Moses discuss the disappearance of family traditions in the home. She read from her newest book, "The Baptism" (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007). This book is in PBCLS Young Adult fiction section.

Shelia P. Moses who is a poet, author, playwright and producer. She is the ninth of 10 children. Moses writes about family life in a North Carolina rural town. She is a Coretta Scott King Honor winner and a National Book Award finalist. Her books have been nominated as the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults.

I also listened to Sanja Gupta discuss his new book, "Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today (Warner Wellnesss, 2007). This book is in PBCLS Adult non-fiction section.

Sanjay Gupta is a practicing neurosurgeon. He is associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and assistant professor at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. The Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent at CNN covers important health news and hosts the weekend show "House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta."

On my bloglines I subscribed to the Library of Congress RSS feed on what's new on the website.

I think podcasts are a great way to keep informed on authors and their new books. It's also a great place to hear book reviews. There are so many subjects to find podcasts about. Maybe a story on our website about podcast would be interesting for our patrons. I wonder if the Youth Services department could havepodcasts of popular books on our website for patrons of children who are unable to come to our weekly storytimes because theier patrons have to work. I could see where podcasts could also be valuable to elderly or homebound patrons who may not be able to come to the library. Podcasts are an excellent way to keep informed about the book world.