RSS feeds

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

I’m a fan of the Google blog search and Technorati.

Which Search tool was the easiest for you?

Google blog search, because I’m already really familiar with searching Google.

Which was more confusing?

The topix site seemed a bit confusing and didn’t bring up the sorts of things I expected when I tested a search for ‘Melbourne’. I think the site is too US focused.

Bloglines

I now have a Bloglines account, which is a site that will tell me whether my favourite blogs and news sites have been updated. It was created as part of the Learning 2.0 program, which I am undertaking as a staff member of Darebin libraries.  

My list of favourite blogs and links can be found here.

For other librarians and library workers, I particularly recommend a librarian’s guide to etiquette. For everyone, one of my all-time favourite blogs is PostSecret.

I’d been aware of RSS feeds for a couple of years, but didn’t really see their value, and was a bit daunted by the HTML codes that appear on RSS feeds, such as this one for the State Library’s media releases.

Now, however, after taking the time to read about the use value of RSS feeds and sites such as Bloglines, I can see how valuable this service is. Back in the day when I was a regular blogger and avid blog reader, I would check all my favourite blogs to see if they’d been updated, and I was annoyed if they hadn’t been. Using bloglines, the new posts come to me.

As an ‘information manager’ (read: librarian), I think the idea of information coming to you, rather than being sought out, is a great development.

With its new website, Darebin libraries could certainly make use of this technology. Library patrons could receive updates about new releases and upcoming events to their bloglines or RSS feed site rather than having to go to the website itself.