In case of library-related interests + iPod…

…Break out the library & librarian podcasts. Ranging from smarmy and useful, to techy and fun, there are a whole bunch of podcasts out there for us. I’ve also included general geek podcasts as well, as I feel they are useful for librarians.

Good:

• ALA – Can be quite good. Useful for the latest currents in the field. However, at present, it is being quite tempermental and I can’t get anything at all to download.
• Library Geeks – Interview format; entertaining. Disappointing that thus far, it’s dudes only. It would be good to have some female geekery in there, so let’s all cross our fingers.
• XML Podcast – Poor sound quality, but seems to have very useful information. First episode is about Yuri Rubinsky, one of the creators of SGML.
• Basic HTML – Ridiculous, but good for learning the basic tags in HTML. If you can’t stomach the weird visuals between screenshots, pause and skip to the demonstrations.
• Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing – Let’s face it. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how to write well, and Grammar Girl can help you get back on track.
• The Library Despot – Newscasting-style developments in the library world. Only one episode currently on iTunes, which is a shame.
• Teacher Librarians – Good K-12 librarian resource. Interviews and other.
• Longshots: Library-related Commentary and Interviews – Very good, informative interviews about subjects that librarians face, such as issues around ‘Net neutrality and the like.

Avoid:

• If you like nasal, condescending news, LibVibe is for you. Useful news with a voice like condescension personified. If you can overlook the bizarre cadence in the podcaster’s voice, it might be worth it.
• The Sexy Librarian is neither sexy nor a librarian. Discuss amongst yourselves. I can’t stand pretentiousness, and I can’t stand arty pretentiousness, so it was a double whammy of awful. Not very useful.

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