Podcasts

I discovered the joy of podcasts a while ago when a friend put me onto a GREAT and HILARIOUSLY FUNNY British radio show called "The Ricky Gervais Show" presented by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (creators of the TV show "The Office.")

The show started in 2001 (I think!) on XFM radio in the UK, and by 2006 the podcasts were rated the most downloaded podcasts of all time.

If anyone's interested, you can listen to episodes here: http://www.rickygervaisshow.com/2.htm

The picture above shows Ricky and Steve, along with Karl Pilkington, producer of their show, who became an accidental celebrity when he started talking on air while the show was being recorded and contributing to the podcasts.

Podcasts also open up a range of exciting possibilities for libraries: customers could review books and upload their review podcasts to the catalogue. Celebrity author talks could be downloaded via the catalogue. Podcasts could also be used to train library staff at a distance.