3 Things On A Stick

As others have noted before me, the Common Craft video @ Blip TV doesn't work. And I would like to second the emotion about what a lousy job Blogger has done "improving" it's product. Now even running spell check or adding a picture requires the patience of a saint and a Masters in Engineering. Viva Lj! Death to Blogspot!

I like the aesthetics of Google Reader so I went with that one for now. I've had little experience with RSS feeds up until now and I still have mixed feelings on their overall practicality. If the websites you visit are mostly explainable in the headlines or first paragraph, this makes you a much more efficient surfer. But if you are obsessive in your thirst for knowledge like myself, it just becomes yet another giant time suck. Now, instead of just haphazardly visiting a few websites you now know to the second when somebody you like has something new. It reminds me of that scene in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" when a miserable alien played by David Bowie is sitting on a chair slowly rocking back and forth behind a wall of TV's, chanting "Too much information! Too much information!"

Google's Blog Search is helpful but I was unable to add any RSS feeds from LibDex's list as a majority of the links appear to be dead. Not cool. However, just based on the titles alone, librarians still love nerdy puns and lame in-jokes.

Of all the library blogs I read today, Unshelved is by far my favorite. Funny and informative, overall lovely.

As far as how libraries can use this technology, that's an excellent question that I don't have a clue how to answer. (I went to a state school, buddy!) Seriously, the issue with so much of Library 2.0 is how much access we're going to give the general public in this endeavor. At the library I work at here in Rochester, we have several computers for catalog searches on both floors but no internet access. The internet access ones are confined to part of one floor, and limit your time to one hour a day. This is common for libraries of course but is seen as archaic by some members of the public. One solution larger metropolitan libraries have is more internet computers, but less time is allowed per station. The whole concept of libraries is sharing and fairness, so just filling the library with computers isn't the answer either. Even if you put RSS feeds as say a ticker on the intranet-only stations would be cruel as patrons can't click on the links, assuming that's even feasible.

In conclusion, the only application I can think of here at work is for colleagues using RSS to more efficiently cruise library message boards that are invaluable to us doing our job in many respects. The communities on LJ and others of that ilk serve a unique set of purposes for our community: a support group for unruly patrons, updates on new changes in the field, a sounding board with frank and impolite language we're not allowed to use at city council member meetings, job postings, a convenient vehicle to ferret out secret prejudices nestled away in our midst, etc.

It would appear almost everything now is available as a RSS feed but we have yet to concretely harness it's awesome potential, IMOPO.