Welcome back to our simply spectacular staff-sourced series on scintillatingly stupendous stories…sorry. I mean, Welcome to the second instalment of our staff-recommended podcasts intended to brighten up your 2021 playlists. We are lucky to have such great suggestions from our folks; and some have offered up more than one podcast! If you need to catch up on Part I from last week, we have it here.
Doris Wagner, Librarian (Law, Sociology, MLCS, History, CSL & Wirth Institute)
Podcasts:
1. Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly
2. As It Happens with Carol Off and Chris Howden
Why these podcasts rock: “My two favourite podcasts are from CBC and they are technically radio programs. Most of the time, however, I’ll catch the podcast version while doing the dishes or chilling out having breakfast on weekends.
Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly is smart, funny, and 30 minutes. I learn interesting facts and how we are influenced by advertising in our daily lives. Terry O’Reilly is a great speaker, which makes him a great host and he’s got lots of experience in advertising.
As It Happens with Carol Off and Chris Howden is thoughtful, funny, and at times covers weird stuff, which I like. The program features small and big stories of the day from around Canada and the world. Sometimes they do retrospectives as well. The stories can have anything to do with human interest, history, social justice, general information, politics, food, science and more.“
Deb Feisst, Librarian (Education & Arts)
Podcast: Song Exploder
Why this podcast rocks: “This popular podcast, which has inspired a Netflix series, lets you take a dive into the nerddom of your favourite artists and the songwriting process behind some of their songs. And not just the hits, but the deep cuts, too. This podcast will open you up to some new listening.“
Céline Gareau-Brennan, Librarian (Business)
Podcast: Freakonomics
Why this podcast rocks: “Based on the the same titled books, Freakonomics use data to “explore the hidden side of everything” and explore problems not traditionally associated with economics.”
Grace Romanow, Information Services Specialist
Podcast: Brene Brown’s “Brené on Words, Actions, Dehumanization, and Accountability.”
Why this podcast rocks: “This podcast episode is an updated version from last year’s “Brené on Shame and Accountability. They’re informative and moving.”
Sarah Polkinghorne, Collection Strategies Librarian
Podcast: Home Cooking
Why this podcast rocks: “This podcast is a blast of sunshine. It offers a perfect combination of laughter and knowledge. If you’re fortunate enough to have fond memories of sharing delicious meals with family and friends, this podcast will help you get by until gathering is possible again.“
Allison Sivak, Librarian (Health Sciences)
Podcasts: How to Survive the End of the World and Snap Judgement Presents: Spooked
Why these podcasts rock: “How to Survive… is an excellent, realist and hopeful podcast about political and personal change in very difficult political times. They cover racism, capitalism, spirituality and Beyonce. The Library has several of co-host Adrienne Maree Brown’s books on social change, pleasure activism and sci-fi.
Spooked is telling of real ghost stories by listeners, hosted by the amazing storyteller Glynn Washington, whose stories are funny and frightening at the same time.”
Sean Luyk, Digital Projects Librarian
Podcast: The SpokenWeb
Why this podcast rocks: “The SpokenWeb Podcast targets a general audience interested in literary topics, history, culture, and analysis, but who might not have studied it since high school. The podcast intends to bring literature, and especially Canadian literature, into the lives of everyday citizens and engage new people in the literary conversation. Designed to address the general public, rather than just topic-area experts, over time it may also develop accompanying materials so that selected podcasts can be used in pedagogical contexts at the high school and college levels.
The University of Alberta, and the University of Alberta Library are partner organizations in the SpokenWeb Project, which the podcast stems from, and I co-produced this month’s episode!”
Eric Graves, Information Services Specialist
Podcasts: 99% Invisible* ** and You’re Wrong About
Why these podasts rock: “Both podcasts deal with learning about many things we think we know or take for granted in our world.“
*the author completely agrees with Eric on 99% Invisible and invites all library fans to listen to her favourite episode, Goodnight Nobody.
**Kim Frail (Librarian, Education & Arts) is a huge podcast fan, and chimes in with a few more for you to add to your list, “Sooo many! Ologies (with a very timely episode on ‘Vaccine Infodemiology’), NPR’s Invisibilia, Twenty Thousand Hertz, 99% Invisible. I could go on and on and on…“
A big ol’ giant thanks to you, for tuning in, and a spectacular shout-out to all of our Library Staff for their spectacular suggestions.
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