Back to school with iTunes U

iTunes U is an interesting example of "being where your users are."

According to the iTunes U website, "more than half of the nation’s top 500 schools use it to distribute their digital content to students — or to the world."

This is fantastic, because it allows faculty to post digital content for their students (or anyone with an interest, for that matter) to download and listen to on their own time.

When I was in college, I took a psychology class where the professor's lectures were incredibly dense. It was a joy to be in his class because I learned so much, but I often walked out knowing that I hadn't written down every. last. detail. It was a shame, as some of the minutia from his lectures is what made it onto his exams.

In that class, some of my fellow students bought tape recorders. It helped them to record the professor's lectures and then listen to them again later.

iTunes U seems to be the natural extension of the idea of tape recording lectures.

It's even better than that, though, because you don't have to be a student of that university (or any university for that matter) to download a lecture. So, anyone with a computer and some interest can learn anything.

So where do libraries it into this equation?

Are you an academic library at an institution that puts content on iTunes U? If so, are you pimping iTunes U on your library's website or at the help desk?

Are you a public library? Are you advertising the content on iTunes U to your users in the relevant areas of your collection?

I don't necessarily advocate giving free advertising to a business, and iTunes is a business.

But the iTunes U content is freely available to anyone with the means to download it, so I guess, to me, it's different.

I am curious to spend more time with iTunes U and see what there is for me to learn.

Art history? Physics? Literature?

So much content, so little time.

--Erin