British Library (2010),"Whats On" British Library Podcasts, London, U.K., viewed 3/4/2010 http://feeds.feedburner.com/BritishLibraryPodcasts
These Podcasts are produced by the British Library, which gives them great authority. They cover a wide range of subjects but mainly concentrate on British literature and history. There are three main categories to choose from -
The Curators Choice- the Curators best picks ie. "Messiah concert in the British Library", "Beowulf", "Untitled Beatles lyric found"
Exhibitions link takes you to podcasts related to present and past exhibitions at the British Library i.e. "Henry VIII", "Ramayana", "From Parchment to Pixel".
Talks, Discussions and Interviews takes you to interesting talks such as - "Book Makers: British Publishing in the Twentieth Century", "Essential Shakespeare Live Encore", "Cheryl Tipp introduces 'British Mammals'"
The Podcasts are of a high quality and are presented by a variety of well known and respected professionals. I highly recommend these podcasts as there is something of interest for just about anyone.
My personal favorite podcast was the "The Lady in the Tower: The fall of Anne Boleyn" by Alison Weir, one of Britain's most respected and read historians. This talk concerns her next book which is a detailed account of the controversial imprisonment and execution of Anne Boleyn.Great stuff.
The sheer range of podcasts and the number of different subjects on offer here is what strikes me. Most libraries that utilise podcasts at all don't have very many. Then again, most libraries aren't the BL. More than anything, it seems to me that podcasts are most useful to libraries for letting clients listen to talks and readings that they weren't able to attend in person. A lot of the other information that can be contained in a podcast can be accessed more effectively in other ways, online or off.
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