Abstract
Apple’s iTunes software permits people to import music onto their computer where they can listen, compile personalized playlists, and share their music with others, a practice that is ubiquitous among students on college campuses. This article examines the ongoing exploration of the potential applications of iTunes software at Union College ’s Schaffer Library, first, as a subtle but pervasive marketing tool used to raise student awareness of new and existing library resources, and second, as a means of reaching out to the campus population in an environment where students already feel at home. The article also discusses the role that iTunes—and specifically the free educational content available from the online iTunes Store—has begun to play in library efforts to respond to a variety of reference and curricular support needs. We describe several strategies for communicating the availability and value of this content to faculty teaching a variety of courses across the curriculum, and (taking advantage of Urban Library Journal’'s online format) we provide examples of tools we have incorporated and tweaked to deliver this content directly and conveniently into the hands of our students. We also discuss the problems and issues we have encountered and describe how we’ve attempted to contend with them.
Highlights
BackgroundReleased at the MacWorld Expo in 2001, Apple’s iTunes software was designed to permit people to import and organize digital music from a CD or other source onto their computer’s hard drive where they could listen to it, organize and compile personalized playlists from a number of different source recordings, share their music with others on the same local area or wireless network, and play streaming audio from the Intranet
Released at the MacWorld Expo in 2001, Apple’s iTunes software was designed to permit people to import and organize digital music from a CD or other source onto their computer’s hard drive where they could listen to it, organize and compile personalized playlists from a number of different source recordings, share their music with others on the same local area or wireless network, and play streaming audio from the Intranet.While the words “file sharing” are likely to set off the copyright violation warning light in the brains of most librarians, iTunes—unlike the first incarnation of Napster and other peer–to–peer services—is implemented in such a way that concerns about unscheduled visits from federal marshals or the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) can be brushed aside
Files shared via iTunes are streamed for listening only—they are not transferred from one PC to another and so cannot be saved to the listener’s hard drive
Summary
Released at the MacWorld Expo in 2001, Apple’s iTunes software was designed to permit people to import and organize digital music from a CD or other source onto their computer’s hard drive where they could listen to it, organize and compile personalized playlists from a number of different source recordings, share their music with others on the same local area or wireless network, and play streaming audio from the Intranet. Within two years of opening, the iTunes Store began offering free audio and video podcasts, many of which are of considerable educational value and reflect the high technical and broadcasting standards of the entities that produce them, including such cultural heavyweights as National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service, and American Public Media, not to mention over 40 universities. Most of this content currently resides within two areas of the iTunes Store—Podcasts and iTunes U— and among the items collected there are:. Teachers looking for material that might supplement course content, students trying to enhance in-class presentations with professional audio and video media, researchers trying to uncover primary source material on their topics, and anyone with even a modest degree of intellectual curiosity will find a wealth of information aggregated here—all of it available as free and legal downloads that are compatible with the iTunes software
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