But before I go…

I’ve spent the last few days editing podcasts and vodcasts that will be appearing on the InfoSoup summer library program blogs (Be Creative @ Your Library and Express Yourself @ Your Library). I’m pretty happy with how they’re turning out, especially with our first group booktalk podcast which went public today (it was a little long, but very fun to record!). If you’d like to check out what we’re recording, be sure to follow our Gabcast channel and the InfoSoup YouTube channel. I’ll be posting more there before I leave OWLS (I hope!).

I’ll also be presenting “Casting @ OWLS” at WiLSWorld in Madison this July. They have a great line-up of speakers, so I hope I’ll see you there!

I’ve learned so much through this grant process and in the months that have followed. ‘Casting is such a fantastic way to engage library users!!! I can’t wait to use what I’ve learned at my new position and hope to get the library staff excited about playing with new tools. Thank you for reading & happy ‘casting to ya!

Here are my slides if you want to revisit them or if you weren’t able to make the session.

One of my favorite vodcast examples is the new “Welcome to the Library” video series created by the Multnomah County Library.

Multnomah County is home to a linguistically and culturally diverse population. According to the 2004 American Community Survey, the county’s increasing diversity has surpassed the national trend. After English, the four languages most frequently spoken by county residents are Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese.

The  videos introduce speakers of Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese to services available at the library. This is a wonderful example of using media to introduce your services to a varied community!

I’ll be talking about ‘Casting @ OWLS at the upcoming Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) conference in May and at WiLSWorld in Madison this summer. It’ll be fun to share what I learned and, hopefully, get others excited about trying ‘casting projects at their libraries. I’ve been poking around different resources and revisiting books in preparation for these presentations and found a great quote by Leo Laporte in the foreward to the book Listen up!: podcasting for schools and libraries by Linda W. Braun:

Podcast your passion. Make your podcast about the things you care about the most. If you bring your passion to your show, everything else will follow. Share your knowledge and your enthusiasm, and people will embrace you.

Amen! The book is a great resource, but mainly just for those just getting started. I was looking for more info on file compression, which it doesn’t include, but I’ll find something out there I’m sure.

Some numbers:

• 1,860 -  views this blog has had so far
• 2,461 – collective views of 6 screencasts created with grant purchased software
• 418 – collective views of continuing education workshop videos created with grant purchased equipment and software
• 2,037 – collective views of instructional videos on ‘casting equipment posted on YouTube
• 1,122 – views of member library podcasts and vodcasts created with grant purchased equipment

The numbers don’t look too bad on their own, huh? Lots of hits, though I can’t tell how many are from people actually in my service area and how many are from people just stumbling onto our content. Nor do they tell you if people actually read, listened, or viewed the entire post, podcast or vodcast they visited.

Then there are some survey results…

A survey was posted on InfoSoup asking catalog users about the screencasts that were posted over that past year. 136 people participated, and of that 136 only 18.4% had actually viewed one of the “help videos.” 67.4% said they were unaware the videos were available and 32.6% said they weren’t interested in video help. Additional comments included “We have dial up and it is too time consuming,” and “I don’t need help.” Those that had watched a screencast thought they were useful or very useful. When asked how likely they were to view an InfoSoup help video in the future, 39.7% said very likely or likely and 60.3% said not likely or unsure. How do I reconcile the large number of views in the statistics with the low level of interest reflected in the survey results? Are lots of InfoSoup users finding the videos and finding them helpful, but aren’t the people who respond to surveys? Or are the survey respondents more savvy than people who find video tutorials useful? I need to think this all over a bit more. (I also found that the survey group as a whole isn’t reading the InfoSoup blog, which I also find disturbing, but not necessarily surprising.)

Another survey was sent to OWLS member library directors. (12 out of 16 responded.) While 100% of the respondents were aware of this grant project and over 80% had viewed the information about it on OWLSweb or this blog, only 2 actually used any of the equipment provided and only 1 took advantage of any training provided. The majority were “not sure” if they were likely to create any ‘casting projects for their library in the future. Time constraints seem to be the biggest hindrance to doing any projects, and most would need lots of help getting started (which is fine by me – I’m glad to help!).

While I understand that our members are incredibly busy, I was disappointed in the level of their participation. I certainly don’t expect ‘casting projects to be everyone’s cup of tea, nor do I expect them to have to squeeze them into an already crazy schedule just for the sake of doing them. I think I’m disappointed because I’ve been so into the technology related to these projects for the last 3 years and have been so excited about the potential they carry for libraries that it’s hard to step back and deal with the reality of life and the fact that things take time. Maybe I jumped into the execution of software and equipment too soon and should have spent more time talking about the whys, benefits, and providing inspiring examples. Would that have helped? Or would people still have been too busy to play…

On a personal level, I found this grant project incredibly useful. I learned TONS about recording, editing, converting, uploading, etc. video and audio stuff, while playing with some cool equipment along the way. I think the InfoSoup screencasts are nice additions to the catalog and hope we’ll be expanding our use of Camtasia to create other patron and staff training tutorials. Posting CE workshops on blip.tv has also been beneficial, as our members tell us that it’s hard to get away from their libraries for programming opportunities.

So, was this project a success or a failure? Maybe a little bit of both, but I’ll consider it mostly a success because I had the chance to play, learn, and grow while providing some help to patrons and library staff along the way.

Today I finished up another screencast, this time on Using Saved Searches in InfoSoup. Now that I’m more familiar with Camtasia, the process is much more fun (though I still hate the sound of my own voice recorded!). I’ll embed the video here in case you want to check it out:

To Do

1. Survey InfoSoup users re: screencasts (have they found them, viewed them; do they think they’re helpful; do they have suggestions for improving them)
2. Survey OWLS member library directors (views on ‘casting kit, training, possible projects for their libraries; InfoSoup screencasts helpful to staff?)
3. Collect statistics on screencasts, CE videos, and member library projects use.
4. Write up the final grant report once the survey results are in.

I’ll probably create the surveys now but not send them out until after New Year’s, as I think people are so busy right now that responding won’t be high on their list.

InfoSoup Screencasts to Finish Up or Start

• My Lists – additional info on adding items from the full record page
• Saved Searches
• Reading History and limiting searches to items not found in Reading History
• BookLetters – what they are, how to use them, how to subscribe
• How to comment on and subscribe to What’s Simmering blog
• Using Content DM (once we actually have some projects living there)

And Evan is planning on creating some screencasts for some of the resources we provide via InfoSoup. The screencasts won’t be finished before the grant period ends, but I foresee us continuing the creation of these tools for InfoSoup users for some time to come as we add enhancements to the catalog.

Possible Posts for this Blog

• resolution cheat sheet for different video hosts
• “Why should I consider ‘casting?”
• Summary of the project with the results from the surveys and statistics gathering

Ideas for the future

• Host a GoToWebinar session showing what libraries are doing with ‘casting to inspire ideas

Whew! Better get busy…

Next: saved searches and reading history, almost ready!

Next on my list… back to InfoSoup screencasts!