The Need for (RSS) Feed

Another great tool...

2006-10-23T10:35:00.000-04:00

As I have been doing my research on RSS feeds, I discovered Onfolio from Microsoft. This is a free online content organizer that you download on to your computer. This is a great idea for a librarian, because it will allow for the organization of information in a way that can make reference work easier. I will just give a few of the features here, and then you can check out the links (below) for more information.

Onfolio allows you to create feeds with just one click and store your feeds on your hard drive in a My Feeds folder. It also allows you to better organize your bookmarks using notes and keywords. You can also capture web pages and snippets of web pages. I think the best part of the capture feature is that if the website changes or goes down you will still have that information. Onfolio allows searching through your saved documents and web pages. Onfolio also helps you share and publish your research. If you want to post something you read to your blog, it is just a right click away. Anything that makes searching, saving and sharing information on the Web easier, is an excellent tool.

Stay tuned for another reason to use Onfolio for your RSS Feeds.

www.onfolio.com
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3325721

Patrons can use RSS too.

2006-10-21T12:40:00.000-04:00

RSS Feeds are not just helpful for librarians. They can help patrons as well. Library ELF is a tracking software for patrons which allows them to receive an e-mail or RSS feed regarding their library account. The system also allows the patron to combine information from more than one library. The RSS feed or e-mail will contain information about holds, items that are coming due and other items that you have checked out. It also enables family members to combine cards into one e-mail. This will make it a lot easier to keep up with the books everyone in the family has checked out.

There is a problem with this, however. If you are using a web-based RSS reader like Bloglines, it may be publishing your library card number and other personal information to the web. If you have an RSS reader on you computer like Onfolio from Microsoft, you won’t have that issue. It may not be wise to use RSS feeds to send private information over the web.

New additions...

2006-10-09T21:21:00.000-04:00

Just a brief update. I have added a site feed link. This was an oversite on my part. A rather embarrassing one. But I am still learning the ins and outs of RSS.

I have also added another link to Librarian RSS Feed Aggregator. Who knew there were so many librarian sites! The great thing about this aggregator is that it offers several ways to navigate the site. Some of the choices are "Feeds updated today" and "Newly added feeds". This site also gives you information about the type of feed - personal, collaborative, technology, library, etc.

I am planning another post soon on another use for RSS feeds in libraries. Stay tuned...

What a great idea!!

2006-09-15T19:38:00.000-04:00

A week ago my husband was talking about RSS feeds and I had no idea what he was talking about. But now I know what they are and what they can do and I am a BIG fan!

An RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feed makes it easy to receive updates via email when websites are updated with new information. This is a wonderful thing for an information professional. Especially if you are busy! One of the most important parts of a librarian's responsibility is to be informed. This is a great way to simplify the process of keeping up with all the latest news. Many of the library journals have an RSS feed icon available.

Example of RSS feed icon.

Another option for using an RSS feed is a web aggregator. A web aggregator is a site that combines your RSS feed links from a variety of news and information sites in one convenient location. An example is Bloglines.com (www.bloglines.com). This site makes it easy to create an account and add RSS feeds from any site that makes them available.

Now, instead of having to bookmark a ton of sites - and then remember to go to those sites to see what is new - you can go to one site and see which of your chosen sites have new content and view it all in one place.

In later posts I will give more information about the technical details. But right now I need to go see what's new!!