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Okanagan reference librarians produce quirky podcast

Davin Helkenberg and Peter Critchley are behind Hard Cover
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Peter Critchley has teamed up with fellow Okanagan Regional Library reference librarian Davin Helkenberg to produce a podcast called Hard Cover that takes a zany but informative look at books, libraries and librarians. (File photo)

Two Okanagan Regional Library reference librarians are behind a new zany but informative podcast.

Davin Helkenberg and Peter Critchley produce Hard Cover, a podcast about books, libraries and librarians.

“One day we were talking about the virtual book talks that Peter does and the idea of doing a podcast came up,” said 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. This genre discussion is the heart of the podcast and includes reading suggestions.

Each podcast also includes segments with 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.

Hard Cover also features a punk rock ORL 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.”

Hard Cover is now available at anchor.fm/orl-podcast. For more information about this podcast, you can call the Vernon library at 250-542-7610 Ext. 6831.

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roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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