New West's library amplifies voices with podcasting courses

It’s difficult to miss the long, brightly coloured banners in the windows of the New Westminster Public Library’s (NWPL) main branch. No, the banners are not touting a book release – they’re actually highlighting podcasting courses happening at the library through the month of May.

Podcasting 101: How to Launch A Podcast walks attendees through the equipment needed to get started, along with the how-to’s of building a podcast. Guest speakers, many of whom work in the sound or music industry, will share their favourite tips and tricks for using sound and the spoken word to bring their stories to life. 

But why through the library?

“I was a latecomer to listening to podcasts,” explains Liz Hunter, a librarian with NWPL. “[I] became rapidly addicted to listening to podcasts, wanted to share the idea of just listening to them, and we have a lot of people that come to the library that don’t have a high technical capacity.”

Hunter says this inspired her to start offering classes about podcasting, which quickly became a hit. “Those classes were almost full, all the time, with people who had never listened to them. They were very excited.”

She soon realized it only seemed natural to do something bigger, and that’s where Hunter says the Arts Council of New Westminster (ACNW) stepped in. 

“Here in New Westminster, there are so many incredible artists that aren’t having their stories told, so we knew with this medium that people could tell these stories and be better informed about what is happening in our arts community,” says Stephen O’Shea, executive director of ACNW. O’Shea says there is plenty of overlap between what might be considered a traditional approach to the arts and the approach to podcasting.

“We think of digital literacy, we think of how to use technology, using their stories in such a way that, not only are they active in people receiving and understanding, but also they become documents of a time, of a place, of an era,” he says. 

Hunter says the library has already purchased some basic podcasting equipment people can use  – up to three people at a time can borrow the tech – and O’Shea says it just makes sense. 

“I think we’re going to see more digital tools coming to the library, available for the community; we’re going to see more people telling their stories through the podcast medium, and it’s just going to grow,” he notes. 

O’Shea says the event is also somewhat of a successor to Litfest, an event that used storytelling, readings, workshops and discussions to connect with the community.  

The joint effort by the two groups to work together to offer these podcasting events have also sparked discussions around how each can reach more people in New West. 

“We know Indigenous storytelling is a strong component of culture,” says O’Shea, “and we as settlers are unpacking our own understanding of the colonial constructs we live in and reconciliation, and greater understanding of embracing storytelling as the core element of what podcasting is. This is something that we can all actively participate and engage in, and come to a greater understanding.”

Hunter agrees. “As humans, we are storytellers. You get together with your friends on the weekend, you haven’t seen them all week, and you start telling stories, right? And this is taking it to the next level.” Hunter also wants to emphasize that an event like Litfest can be a rarefied environment. “That’s not an environment that’s comfortably accessible to all kinds of people; marginalized people.”

The ability to borrow basic equipment to create a podcast goes hand-in-hand with what Hunter says the library would like to see. She says the library is also keen to get out in the community more and embed itself within the areas where there are traditionally marginalized communities that might not use the library. 

“We also want this type of thing to be accessible to those communities as well. Whether it looks like one day we take the equipment out, and we get homeless folks involved in telling their stories, and making their own recorded histories as well, there’s really no limit to this.”

Both agree that the goal would be to host an annual podfest in New Westminster. Hunter says she’d love to see more podcasters come from this city. 

“We want to help people take that jump, and let them know how easy it is, how easy it can actually be.”

Learn more about the podcasting course and the upcoming sessions on the library’s website.