Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Feed and Read, Read and Feed

Learning 2.0 lesson number six was an introduction to RSS and newsreaders.  I used my Google Reader account to subscribe to several RSS feeds.  The exercise called for the initiation of ten library related RSS subscriptions.  My first thought:  Who has time to read TEN different subscriptions every day, all day?? 

As directed, I subscribed to the Learning 2.0 blog feed, Unshelved, and Reader's Club new review feeds.  I promptly unsubscribed to the Learning 2.0 and Reader's Club feeds.  Learning 2.0's last post was years ago.  No need for this feed!  I noticed the same thing with the Reader's Club feeds that I had chosen.  The RC feeds were a little more recent (last year) but still not current enough to warrant more than an entry in my bookmarks.

My favorite?  Unshelved.  It is a series of library-related cartoons.  Great way to start the day.  Will I continue this subscription?  Don't see why.  I can use Unshelved as my homepage.  It will provide the same service to me.

I did subscribe to several regional alert feeds.  The alerts notify me of emergencies, traffic problems, and weather advisories for specific geographical regions.  Genesee County experienced an airborne irritant alert this morning.  For more information regarding the NY-Alert services go to http://www.nyalert.gov/Public/RSS/AllHazRSSInfo.aspx

I will not be using RSS feeds habitually for a long time.  They are just another thing to check. 

RSS feeds can be a powerful library tool.  They can be used to increase community awareness of library events.  Advertising new technologies and training sessions, promoting teen events, and sharing upcoming after-hours parties for adults are a few additional items that can be shared using RSS feeds.  Announcements that require more than 140 characters can be quickly shared with subscribers by utilizing feeds.

It is now time to discover what is creating that noise in the Xterra's front end. 
I hope all is well out  there!
Katie

1 comment:

  1. Hmm, the emergency alert feeds are a good idea (although taking heed of them would require paying a daily visit to my Google Reader, which I can't seem to get into the habit of doing). It's interesting that so many of us in this class (myself included) seem to view RSS as "just another thing to check," when in theory it should be such a timesaver. As you said, though, it's a good idea for libraries to use RSS as a promotional tool, since some patrons will be used to getting their news in that format.

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