Reflection Post #4
I have to confess that not until last summer did I learn what a RSS Feed was. During one of my classes, my professor went on and on about the wonders of RSS and how it had made her life so much easier, both professionally and personally. It must have been the blank stares my fellow classmates gave her that made her ask, “Does anyone know what a RSS Feed is?” Thinking that I would be the only one not to know, I was shocked to see that the majority of my classmates were also in the dark! Well I think I have come a long way since then. Since taking this class and learning more about RSS, I have grown to enjoy the benefits it has provided. RSS has not only saved me time when tracking down the latest information from my favorite websites, but has made it easier for me to stay on top of the latest news and follow my favorite blogs (ah yes and the blogs for this class!). So I know RSS feeds can be fun, but how has does benefit librarians? In order to answer this question, I did some research.
“The Moxie Librarian” (http://moxielibrarian.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/10-ways-libraries-can-use-rss/) is a blog provides the tops ten ways a librarian can use RSS. Although it appears that this blog has not been updated in about a year, it still provides some useful information for librarians who are new to RSS. Another source I found was from the Special Libraries Association (http://www.sla.org/pdfs/sla2007/hartrssfeeds.pdf) As the link indicates, this is a PDF that provides more substantive information on RSS then the blog I just mentioned. From reading this article, I found that the information provided can be applied to various types of libraries and not just special libraries.
As I continued my search I found some examples of libraries that incorporate RSS feeds. The most notable one is the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/rss/). Lastly, RSS is a valuable tool in keeping librarians informed of the latest developments in the field. The Library Journal (http://www.libraryjournal.com/RSS) provides RSS options. I found this feature very interesting since I am pretty new to the field.
As I reflect back to my professor’s comments on RSS, I can honestly agree with her in saying that RSS is perhaps one of the greatest technological concepts to be developed…thus far!
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