Thing 18 - Jing/screencapture/podcasts

Yet again I'm going to skim over, rather than fully explore a 'Thing'.  I have tried to give each new tool introduced to us the time it deserves to review it, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to spare the time for those that are less relevant to my job.  CPD23 has inspired me to be more proactive in looking at how to use new media at work so I'm hopeful that once the course is over I'll continue to explore what's out there.

Screencasts - a digital recording of computer screen output, often containing audio narration
I think there could be scope to use these in my current job.  I've often explained to staff over the phone how to access either the library OPAC or the e-journals on the staff intranet.  Occasionally it has included me demonstrating the process on my computer, and they on theirs, going through the steps together.  It would be useful to simply direct people to a screencast showing them how to do the more common queries.

Podcasts - a media file (audio or video) that can be downloaded and saved
I'm not sure whether we would use these, I know lots of places use them to supplement inductions or training sessions.  Although we do inductions for new staff, they tend to be in quite small groups and not very frequent, so it's easier to do them in person.  However, recently we have discussed doing tours for groups interested in the history of the Museum's library, but space and security constraints have limited how much we can do.  I think placing virtual tours on Rhagor may be one way to combat that problem.

I've downloaded Jing to my home computer, and went through some of the tutorials.  If time allows I may try doing some screencasts introducing searching on the Library OPAC, and maybe try some mock up virtual tours to show to my boss.