New Podcast: Annotated

In a previous post, we listed 18 great podcasts for librarians. Today, we wanted to talk about a new one that has been rocking our world:

Book Riot's Annotated. It is an audio documentary podcast about books, reading and language. Season one was just completed with six episodes, each one researched and presented in a really engaging way with interviews and voice actors. My current favorite is titled: THE WORLD’S MOST GLAMOROUS LIBRARIAN. In the early 20th Century, millionaire J.P. Morgan was looking for a librarian to grow his personal collection. He hired Belle da Costa Greene, giving her millions of dollars to buy and sell for his art, books, and manuscripts. She was extremely successful and J.P. Morgan left her $50,000 (over 1 million in today's dollars) in his will. But what's most fascinating about her is the fact that she wasn't actually Belle da Costa at all...

You'll have to listen to the episode to learn more about her.

The other episodes vary in topic, from an in depth look at book stores and how they had changed to survive (even thrive) today to the beginning of science fiction, sparked by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Each episode is full of awesome information that every librarian should know.

We highly recommend you check out this new podcast! And if you like it, please leave a review on iTunes or Google Play. This season is actually an experiment due to all of the research required to produce each episode. If enough people subscribe and like it, they'll continue on to a season 2.

We here at 5minlib really hope they do!

18 Excellent Podcasts for Librarians

Podcasts are the perfect companion to the busy librarian! They are useful for anyone who has a commute, many chores to do around the house, walk dogs, or engage in exercise, which we are assuming covers most of our readers. Podcasts are like talk shows or stories, that appear consistently (weekly to monthly) on your phone. (I use Podcast Addict and have them automatically downloaded as they are released so I don't use wifi while away from home. They autodelete after I listen to them.) Then, when you are out and about, you can easily play an episode and enjoy life a little bit more.

There are a million great podcasts out there (just check out the responses to this one Facebook post!) but we decided to highlight the podcasts which talk about library news and books. Maybe you'll find a new favorite!

Adventures in YA

Kristin and Sara talk about YA books in this fun and informative young adult literature podcast.

Better Library Leaders

Better Library Leaders is a podcast, blog, and Facebook community designed to explore the elements of great libraries and great library leaders. Sarah provides helpful tips, insightful interviews, and other resources that will help you make your career and your library the best they can be.

Beyond the Stacks

A podcast exploring interesting and unexpected career paths for librarians and information professionals.

Book Club for Masochists

Library staff discussing books they read that they hate. Every month, they randomly select a genre and choose a book to read and share on the podcast.

Book Riot - the Podcast

A weekly news and talk show about what's new, cool, and worth talking about in the world of books and reading, brought to you by the editors of Book Riot.

You may also want to check out their "All the Books" which is a weekly show of recommendations and discussions on new book releases and "Get Booked" which is a weekly show of custom book recommendations.




Circulating Ideas

Circulating Ideas facilitates conversations about the innovative people & ideas allowing libraries to thrive in the 21st century.

CYA Podcast

The CYA Podcast Blog is a review site for librarians by librarians who serve youth by librarians. Books are chosen by the reviewers and will be discussed on the podcast.

Cyberpunk Librarian

Daniel Messer, the Cyberpunk Librarian, talks about ideas, trends, and cool stuff for technologically minded librarians who are high tech and low budget,









Dewey Decibel

Dewey Decibel is a new podcast series from American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association. Each month, your host and American Libraries Associate Editor Phil Morehart will be your guide to conversations with librarians, authors, thinkers, and scholars about topics from the library world and beyond.








FYI: the Public Libraries Podcast

Public Library Association's Manager of Publications, Kathleen Hughes, interviews different people in public libraries on a specific topic like bed bugs, unprogramming, and special library initiatives.

Ladies Who Library

Lady librarians who talk about their experiences in the library and the books they read.

The Librarian is In

The New York Public Library’s podcast about books, culture, and what to read next.

LibUX

Michael Schofield and Amanda L. Goodman talk design, development, and the user experience in libraries and higher-ed web.

Professional Book Nerds

We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, get personalized recommendations, and learn about the hottest books coming out that we can't wait to dive into.

Reading Envy

A podcast where Jenny talks about the books she's been reading and brings in other readers to do the same.

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books

Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books interviews romance authors and guests from the romance community, and discusses serious issues that appear in romance lit in a fun way. Lots of book recommendations are included, too, mostly romance and suspense but other genres are periodically mentioned.

Withdrawn

Two boring librarians making libraries less boring.

The Worst Bestsellers

Worst Bestsellers is a podcast where Kait, Renata, and a guest talk about popular books of questionable quality. It’s kind of like How Did This Get Made? or Mystery Science Theater 3000, but for books. Their fabulous tag line is: We read stuff so you don't have to.







Do you know of any other library or book podcasts? Please share them in the comments below!

Facebook Page Tips to Increase Fans

Michael Stelzner, host of the podcast Social Media Marketing, recently interviewed Holly Homer from KidsActivitiesBlog.com to talk about her successful Facebook page. Go here to listen to the full podcast: Facebook Organic Growth: How to Defy the Odds and Grow a Huge Facebook Community!

Key Points for Librarians:

SHARE IT (OR NOT):

- You do not need to share everything, just the topics that have viral potential. It hurts you to post topics that people will not respond to -- Facebook will show less of your posts to your fans.

- Expand your content to link outside of your organization to other pages and websites. Share the love, and keep your page fresh.

ANALYZE IT:

- Pay attention to Facebook Insights: "The People Talking About This" and "Reach" numbers. You can see this on any page (just click on the arrow in the "PEOPLE" column on the left side of the page).

- If you share someone else's post that has a higher Talking About / Reach number, Facebook will give you good Karma and show your post to more of your fans.

WORK IT:

- She posts 26 times a day, but most of her fans only see 3 or 4 posts since Facebook does not show everything to all fans. (Which also means that it doesn't matter WHEN you post since Facebook may not show it to fans until hours later...) She waits three weeks to recycle posts and ALL have beautiful high quality pictures. Sometimes, she needs to make them for other blogs that she's reposting. As she points out, people do not mind beautiful pictures in their newsfeed, so it works to her advantage when she posts frequently. [EDIT: Talking to other library leaders, I have learned that we should only be posting twice a day - once in the morning and once at night. The difference, I think, between libraries and this particular page is our audience. Her audience is probably following a lot of pages, so there's more competition. Our library patrons are most likely not that savvy, so they see more of our posts than her audience does.]

- She posts 2/3 outside content and 1/3 from her blog. She also posts three questions a day from readers and let fans answer it.

- She learned that writing a quick introduction in capitals resonated well with her audience. Space. Provide the Link. Space. Description. You will know what your audience likes, too, by seeing what posts do well in your Facebook Insights. Try new things, wait two weeks, and see what worked well. Adapt!

- Using these strategies, Holly's Facebook page went from 7,000 fans to 530,000 fans in eight months.

There you go - I hope it was five minutes well spent!  It was a fantastic podcast, if this is an area you are very interested in. I highly recommend listening to it or checking out the show notes.