WRLR: 'For the people, by the people'

WRLR LP-FM is a low-powered FM radio station based in Round Lake Heights in Lake County.

Established in 2004, WRLR describes itself as, "Of the people, for the people, by the people." Programming is geared to the 90,000-plus residents living in the area, often featuring area residents on air; the station is operated on an all-volunteer basis. Donations solicited from sponsors and underwriters cover fixed costs.

Bob Watson, director of the Lake Villa Public Library, called WRLR a few months after its debut, expressing an interest in helping with programming.

In 2006, Bish Krywko, WRLR president, e-mailed Liz Glazer, head of community services at the library, to gauge interest in the library having its own radio show. Realizing that a weekly program for one library might be difficult to sustain, Glazer contacted several Lake County library colleagues and obtained more participants.

Dave Sanocki, WRLR program director, hosts "Lake County Libraries on the Air" as part of his Monday morning program. Several area libraries share a 30-minute time slot. Recently, Elena Lara and Jim DiDonato from Round Lake Area Public Library reported on Library Card Sign-Up Month, Valerie Stern from Ela Area Library talked about its local author program, and Elizabeth Stearns from Waukegan Public Library described its Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival. The other four participating public libraries (Cook Memorial, Lake Villa District, Grayslake, and Warren-Newport) take turns.

For more information, visit the WRLR Web site at www.wrlr.fm.

"We're very pleased with the opportunity to broadcast to our community. We're always looking for partners who can help us tell our story," Watson said.

"WRLR has been great. Our library spot is part of the 'Thank God it's Monday' show, with Dave (Sparky) Sanocki as the show's host. We have appreciated his easy manner and interest in what we're doing."

See my interview with Watson this month on our award-winning cable TV show, "What's New in Libraries?" For times and channels in your area, visit the Web site at www.whatsnewinlibraries.org.

The radio-like medium that libraries are experimenting with is podcasting. A podcast is a digital media file distributed over the Internet.

You can subscribe to podcasts created by an individual; when new content is posted, it will be downloaded to your computer or to portal digital devices such as MP3 players.

When podcasting was new in 2005, most podcasters created radio-like shows. The medium has since proven useful in other ways. For example, the library at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn., has produced a number of podcasts explaining the uses of library information databases. Links to the podcasts appear on the library's Web site. Go to www.fairfield.edu/x1285.html and select "Research Guides and Tutorials" on the left panel.

I first got interested in using radio to promote libraries in the early 1980s in Harrisburg, Pa. Our library wrote a grant proposal to a new foundation established by author Judy Blume to promote communication between children and parents. We proposed a series of radio shows on the local National Public Radio outlet. Shows were built around themes such as peer pressure or death. A panel of adult experts spoke to the topic and kids talked about it on air. There was a studio audience, bibliographies and a call-in feature. It was an elaborate effort probably forgotten now, except by those of us who were involved.

One of these persons was Dr. Steven Herb, who implemented the project. I recently had a chance to reminisce with Herb, who currently holds the Follett Chair at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Listen to my podcast with Herb on my Web site www.sarahlong.org.

• Sarah Long is director of the North Suburban Library System. Send e-mail to slong@nsls.info.