RSS Feeds (Exercise #8)

I was very excited to do this particulare exercise because it seems like a lot of my more geeky friends love RSS Feeds, and I was too embarrassed to admit I didn't know exactly what it was. And now I know what it is and how to actually get RSS feeds for the blogs and news sources that I read!

I think I will really like it because it seems like a good way to organize information that is important to me. I have lots of stuff bookmarked plus I'm signed up for e-mail newsletters and the like. It takes time sometimes to track down sources I like to read, especially when I'm not on my home computer where most of my bookmarks are (because even though I know what del.icio.us is, I haven't started using it). I think in many ways it will be a timesaver because I won't have to spend as much time looking around for things. At the same time though I can see it actually becoming a timewaster because I might go on my list to look for one blog and find myself checking other stuff too.

I think I can definitely use it in my worklife because, like all librarians, I'm always struggling to keep up with what's going on in the field. I want to stay fresh. Plus I think it's important when you work on a reference desk to stay updated on what's going on in the world because you never know when someone might have questions related to current events.

I can imagine it would be very helpful for libraries to have RSS Feeds that patrons can sign up for so that they can learn about new services and resources. It could perhaps be used for certain parts of the websites or blogs could be created. Right now when I get new resources that are of interest to faculty and graduate students in my liaison areas, I just send out e-mails. With RSS Feeds I could update them in a quicker way.

Here's the Blogroll that I created: http://www.bloglines.com/public/ahartsell
It's becoming an electic list of sources of both professional interests and personal interests. I'm actually thinking at this point that perhaps I should create two Bloglines--one for work and one for personal. That way I can search the professional one at work without being tempted to look at the more personal stuff.