Feeding The World

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• Feeding The World
• Information
• Blogs RSS Basics
• Sophie Brookover, Camden County Library
• www.popgoesthelibrary.com
• April 25, 2006

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Goals for Today

• Take the sting out of the tech learning curve
• Motivate you to use blogs, RSS, and podcasts to
  communicate more effectively with your users!

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Blogs Defined

• Frequently updated
• Entries in reverse chronological order
• Entries are usually brief, chock full of links
  commentary
• One or more contributors.

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Blogs Defined

• Posts are archived automatically
• Posts and can be categorized and searched
• Each post is saved with a unique URL, or
  permalink.

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Permalinks

• Unique URL for each post.
• Permalinks allow other bloggers to link to the
  specific posts at your blog.

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Permalinks Good

• Reader friendly
• Blogger friendly
• Searcher friendly (thanks to categories)
• Effective archiving
• Better blog marketing

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Permalink Example
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Categories Good

• Easily searchable archives
• Conversational flow
• An organized blog is a happy blog

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Archives by Category
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Archives By Date
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Some LIS Blogs I Love

• The Shifted Librarian www.theshiftedlibrarian.co
  m
• Library Stuff http//librarystuff.net
• Librarian.net www.librarian.net

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More LIS Blogs I Love

• Blog Without a Library www.blogwithoutalibrary.n
  et
• Librarian in Black http//librarianinblack.typep
  ad.com
• Pop Goes The Library www.popgoesthelibrary.
  com
• and many, many more!

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Blog Software

• WordPress http//wordpress.org/
• Blogger www.blogger.com/
• Movable Type www.sixapart.com/movabletype/

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Why Should We Blog?

• As a cure for Best-Kept-Secret-it is
• All the better to serve you with, my dear
• Talk to your users in their language, using their
  technology.
• User-centered libraries popular libraries.

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What Should We Blog?

• Everything!
• Services, events, storytimes, book reviews
• Materials new databases, books, journals
• Library News
• Library Staff accomplishments awards.

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What Should We Blog?

• Targeted blogs for
• Students
• Faculty
• Staff
• Patrons

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Blogs _at_ Your Library

• Marketing services, collections, programs, and
  more!
• Project Management no lost e-mail, transparent
  process, searchable by sub-topic.

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Blogs _at_ Your Library

• Collaborative communication less cumbersome
  than a listserv, easier to track conversations
  using categories and comments.
• Provision of news scan link to news stories
  of interest to your users

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Blogs _at_ Your Library

• Blog your intranet
• Individual blogs feeds for staff in different
  departments
• Photo-blog using Hello or Flickr
• Replace or supplement newsletters e-mail
  distribution lists w/blogs.

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RSS One Step Beyond

• Blogs in isolation well, isolated.
• Blogs RSS The highly interconnected and
  user-friendly Blogosphere!

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RSS What Is It?

• RSS stands for
• Rich Site Summary, or
• RDF Site Summary, or
• Really Simple Syndication.

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RSS What Is It?

• RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or
  channels) simply contain a list of items.
  Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and
  a link to a URL (e.g. a web page).
• --Fagan Finder All About RSS
• http//www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.shtml

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RSS What Is It?

• All of the information,
• None of the formatting.

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RSS How Do We Use It?

• As an end-user, via a feed reader.
• As a provider of RSS feeds.

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Feed Readers

• Use feed readers to subscribe to RSS feeds from
  blogs other sites of interest.
• Subscriptions are updated hourly.

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Feed Readers

• Desktop-based (accessible on your computer)
• www.newsgator.com (Windows)
• http//ranchero.com/netnewswire/ (Mac)
• Web-based (accessible from anywhere)
• http//allrss.com/rssreaderswebbased.html

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Feed Readers

• Content from your sites of choice is syndicated
  (i.e., collected) into one easy location.
• You save time, clicks, memory.

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Using Aggregators Feeds

• www.bloglines.com
• A popular, user-friendly online aggregator

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Does My Favorite Site Have Feeds?

• Yes, if you see any of the following
• Syndicate this site!

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RSS _at_ your library

• Better serve your patrons
• Feeds for your librarys blog, your pathfinders,
  new materials in your OPAC
• Allow users to create RSS feeds of all items
  theyve ever checked out
• Display content from other sites (news headlines,
  major book awards info, etc.)

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Blogs RSS _at_ Other Libraries

• St. Charles Seminarys Ryan Memorial Library
• http//www.scs.edu/library/feeds/rss.htm
• Ann Arbor District Library
• www.aadl.org

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Blogs RSS _at_ Other Libraries

• Kansas City Public Library
• http//www.kcpl.org/rss/ (Subject
  guides)
• Kenton County (KY) Public Library
• http//tinyurl.com/lpgbp (feeds)
• http//kcpl.blogspot.com/ (blog)

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Blog RSS Resources

• Blog the Web (a great article!)
  http//tinyurl.com/otzut
• Blogging Libraries Wiki http//tinyurl.com/pvzvp
  
• RSS Toolkit for Libraries http//tinyurl.com/3ul
  vz

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More Blog RSS Resources

• What Is RSS? (California Library Association
  blog)
• http//tinyurl.com/k8rsf
• Bloglines in 3.5 Easy Steps http//tinyurl.com/3
  ll4e
• Teaching RSS To Library Staff http//tinyurl.com/
  s9mjk

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Thank You!

• Sophie Brookover
• Camden County Library
• www.popgoesthelibrary.com
• sophie.brookover_at_gmail.com
• 856.772.1636 ext. 3372