Vernon librarians produce podcast with a 'Hard Cover' edge

Photo: Jon Manchester

Hard Cover is the title of new podcast created by Vernon librarians Davin Helkenberg and Peter Critchley.

The Okanagan Regional Library reference librarians' "zany and informative" podcast will talk about books, librarians and libraries.

"One day, we were talking about the virtual book talks that Peter does and the idea of doing a podcast came up," Helkenberg.

"We kicked it around and talked about a few other ideas and possible characters we could use in a podcast that hopefully would be funny, entertaining and informative at the same time. So we thought we would give it a try."

The podcast explores a different genre each episode, with the first one focused on science fiction and time travel.

The show features a punk rock theme song – a deliberate choice to mock the stereotypical image of librarians.

"We wanted something that would send up the idea of the librarian and library stereotype," said Critchley.

"For some reason I don’t quite remember, although it may have had to do with Wayne's World, we came up with the idea of a punk rock theme."

Each podcast also includes segments with fictional characters such as Librarian Stevie guiding patron Larry through the jungle of information, to library tips from Amelia Corkhill, a 123-year-old librarian who retired from the ORL in 1962.

You can find Hard Cover at anchor.fm/orl-podcast.

The equipment used to make the show will also be available to all library patrons for free in coming months. Contact the library for details.