RSS feeds

Since hearing of RSS feeds I've noticing the orange icon more and more. By joining bloglines I was happy to see them in practice. I started having fun by looking at what the popular feeds were - signing up with Quote of the Day for a bit of fun, and Librarybytes which look really interesting from a librarians point of view. I then began searching through feeds from some of my favourite movie sites and music sites that i liked to be able to access all at one page. And of course I had to do smh.com.au because even if I don't read all the articles I like to keep in touch with the news headlines.

RSS feeds seem advantageous to libraries to announce new library items as they arrive, upcoming events and general news. I did some google searches to see how other libraries had put these into practice. Minneapolis Library was impressive as they had divided their new item lists into music cds, audiobooks etc. Other libraries divided their feeds into subject areas. I also looked at the State Library of Vicotia which had a feed on employment opportunities which I thought was great.

Flickr

After a long absence I'm back and trying to make up for my missing time. It's been a struggle to find time during work hours to work on this course so things have inevitably had to be done at home. As the last thing I want to do at home is think about work, motivation has been an issue. But again I'm back and keen to try flickr.

The photo I've posted here is of the Long Room in Trinity College, Dublin. I had the pleasure of visiting this library a couple of years ago and it literally made my jaw drop it was so amazing. I loved the high walls of books and ladder accessibility. It would have been an amazing experience to meet with a study group there. Beautiful atmoshphere.

Lesson the first

I've grown up with computers all my life. I can't really remember not having a computer - memory's of playing Donkey Kong and Space Invaders are pretty vivid. In saying that I remember my first introduction to the World Wide Web. The majority of my life has now been with the internet as opposed to without it. My conclusion to this is that in my opinion I know enough about computers to realise I know not much at all! I also know I want to know as much as I can!

So now here I am faced with the reality of all these new features from Learning 2.0 and I have no idea what they all mean... What's delicious? What exactly are RSS feeds? What is Flickr, and where's the "e"?

This is my first ever blog, and I admit it's something I personally have never felt the need to do myself but can definitely see the advantages. I like the idea of libraries using blogs so the public can read reviews of books and events etc. in laymans terms. It breaks down the walls of "us" and "them."


I'm a bit late starting this learning experience, but now that I'm here I can't wait to learn more. I just want to keep building on the knowledge I have. This is the way that not only libraries but the world is going and I don't want to be left behind!