Real Simple Something

What an exciting discovery! It's funny, I've known about RSS for ages but just never signed up for it as I couldn't really see the difference in just going the the web page I was interested in and checking it myself. I didn't realise you got a numbered amount of unread articles - very useful. The only problem with that is, if it's a frequently updated blog, you may end up with huge amounts of unread articles (because sometimes you just don't have time to read 20 updates per day!) which would make it impossible to tell if there are any new posts since you last checked. Unless you have a very good memory for numbers - Ah, BoingBoing is up to 1021 unread entries, which is 20 up from last time I checked!


For my RSS feeds I've selected 3 feeds from the SMH site, the library's Holtermann Collection blog and the Powerhouse Museum blog as suggested. The first thing I went to subscribe to (after the Holtermann Collection blog) is the Tales from the Loft blog about the project I'm working on at the Historic Houses Trust - and guess what? No RSS feed! Something I'll definitely have to look at soon. :)

Obviously this technology is a great way to stay up to date with the latest news in your area of interest with the simplicity of visiting a single webpage for the information. As a library assistant these feeds could be used to keep up to date on all the library blogs, such as the Library Services blog, which contain important information on new practices in the library. On a wider scale in the library this applies also.

There is also the use of RSS for the clients of the library, which is great for keeping people up to date on new and exciting library news! A good example of this is New York State Library's RSS feed. I've signed up to this feed to see what kind of innovations they are using to keep their clients interested in the library. Who knows, maybe the clients will be so impressed with the content of an update they'll email it to their friends (very easy to do in Google Reader) and spread the word! Library Journal also has an absolute bevvy of RSS feeds to choose from, one very appropriate example of which you will see on my page! What a great library information site.

I'll be keeping a close eye on the Holtermann Collection blog as it's an area I'm really interested (photography and preservation) and so close to home I can always run down and check out any exciting new developments! A very good blog in the sense that it keeps everyone, including staff, the public and sponsors, in the loop and up to date.

I think I'll be making use of this super simple syndication (SSS) as a regular from now on.