Thing #8 - RSS Feeds

For a long time now, my dear husband - W, has been trying to convince me to use RSS for reading various blogs. He continuously said it is so much easier for them to come to you, then for you to go to them. So...I set up a Bloglines account about a year ago, well, maybe not THAT long ago, it just feels that way. I found SO many different blogs I was interested in reading, it became ridiculous. Now I am starting all over again. This time I am going with Google Reader to make everything a little easier to maintain with my blog and e-mail.

Then, I went to TechNet 2008 today and this great presenter, Jesse, said in order to maintain control over the blogs you read, keep your subscriptions down to 20 or fewer. Well, I can do that for professional stuff, but what about all of my personal interests? I want to read about the Dallas Cowboys, keeping up with my family and friends through their blogs, not to mention on the new stuff in the scrapbook world. Okay, Jesse, I will give it to you. 20 subscriptions for PROFESSIONAL blog reading really does sound reasonable. Am I really going to read all of these blogs? I hope so. They all sound interesting or I would not have subscribed to them!

So...I have narrowed it down (for now) to 9 (2 personal and 7 professional). I'm sure I will come across others I simly will not be able to do with, but for now, these are the ones I plan to focus my attention.

I love the fact the information comes to me, and I don't have to remember to visit the sign in order to get the new information. In my school, I plan to use RSS feeds in order to keep more informed on new technologies and ways libraries can incorporate them. I believe my teachers will gain a great deal by subscribing to early childhood sites of interest to them, so I will be showing them how to create their own lists in the fall.

I believe libraries can use this resource as a great promotional tool for their libraries. For libraries consistently posting to blogs, this is a great way to freely advertise special events, lectures, readings, etc.