Week 3: RSS Feeds

It took me a while to believe in RSS. I really didn't think it was so very difficult to click over to my favorite blogs to see if there was a new post. Library school friends swore by theirs for news, but I am not much of a newshound. It may have been peer pressure from my best friend to add a feed to my personal blog (she would not read it if she had to remember to look for it!) that finally got me on board.

Now I check my Bloglines feed daily to keep up on:

• books, via Guys Lit Wire and the Hip Librarians Book Blog.
  
• technology trends with Wired. 
• library trends with Library Stuff.

I also get a feed from the Census Bureau and another from the Librarians' Internet Index that give me ideas for displays and (for the latter only) make me aware of cool new online sources.

CHPL could really benefit from push technologies like feeds or social networks. I learn about cultural events around town that way, and I am certain many of our patrons do, too. Imagine a tech-savvy mom checking her feeds in the morning and noting, "Oh good, the storytime break is over, let's go, kids!" If our high school-aged kids could access social networks in the library as well as at home, the events feature of Facebook and MySpace would put our name and our activities in front of their faces. And I am sure readers of all ages would enjoy a feed telling them about newly arrived books in their areas of interest.