RSS in libraries

1. Why should libraries care about RSS?

 What better way there can be than RSS to get all the information you want delivered into your desktop everyday? RSS or Really Simple Syndication makes it all possible and the more I read and explore the possibilities RSS offers, I am getting more and more amazed to find how fabulous it is. No more of spending hours to browse through the websites, just subscribing to the RSS feeds on the topic of interests will keep me informed on all the news and happenings on those  fields, what a blessing! 

 How can the libraries benefit from RSS? Options are endless. Libraries can offer RSS feeds for the users to subscribe to, enabling them to stay informed on the updated information on the catalog, news on the library blog, Reader's Advisory, programs, events and services offered at the library, even a feed for the account information that will alert the patrons of overdue items can be very useful to all the library users. The library where I work is not quite there yet on web 2.0, it has a blog which is not very active at this point, mostly because of the lack of staff time to dedicate to maintain it, but I am sure it will catch up pretty soon to connect with the online community which is ever increasing. A feed for video and podcasts of the children's storytime could be another excellent RSS service the libraries can offer. The more variety of feeds libraries can offer, better it will serve to attract different user group, thus reaching out to a much larger clientele. Hence it goes without much saying that RSS is an extremely valuable tool for libraries to provide extraordinary services to its users. 

Points to ponder ...

Library blogs 

Even though blogs are becoming a library priority as more and more libraries are creating effective and attractive blogs to connect with their virtual users, still there are some issues concerning the creation and maintenance of library blogs that the authorities need to ponder before committing to any kind of expression through the web environment. First of all, is the library comfortable sharing information through this type of informal sources that can not be controlled at all levels? Library blogs need to be updated on a daily basis, which will give the users a solid reason to make regular visits to the blog, and to make it happen, is the library ready to allocate enough personnel time that is required to create and update the content of the blog? Also, another very important point libraries should consider before starting a blog is that, it should be designed in a way that will facilitate interactive communication with the user, rather than a one-way channel between the library staff and the user. An evaluation of the library blog on a regular basis is very important to measure the extent if it is meeting the user needs, which will determine the success rate of the blog, whether or not it is meeting its purpose public relation terms. A library blog should be a reflection of the image of the physical library to its online patrons, hence all the measures should be taken to maintain the institution's reputation and credibility.

Excercise#2

Differences in the style of blog posts...

1. It  was pretty interesting to see how the style and approach of writing can differ in the blogs as I read through the five blogs I subscribed to for this assignment. There are some similarities between the blogs that shared the same interests as seen in The Distant Librarian, Librarian by Day and David King, focusing on web 2.0 and recent technology trends in the libraries, but there are also a lot of differences as the content and theme differed. Overall, all the five blogs offered postings that were quite engaging and effectively communicated the messages to the readers.  

The first blog that I subscribed to was the Librarian's Commute, written by Olivia Nelllums. Her style of writing resembled more like a personal diary, where she noted down her day to day experiences and happenings around her in a academic library setting. She has also included some pretty images from her surroundings (I guess) which added a sense of 'belonging', a more personalized feeling.

The Distant Librarian by Paul R Pival offers a lot of information on Web 2.0 tools and technologies that are very useful for library professionals, a 'must know' for all librarians in the digital era. The postings included a lot of videos, screenshots, tips and tricks on using technologies that are extremely relevant and handy in the world of Library and Information Science.

The blog Librarian By Day is maintained by Bobbi Newman focuses more on the digital library world, and offer interesting views on the current issues rocking the library land. The readers of this blog can connect to a host of interesting articles and watch videos on topics that are relevant to the libraries and library profession, especially the one article written by Emma Cragg and Katie Birkwood called  Beyond books: What It Takes to be a 21st century Librarian: From Connecting With People to Keeping Up With the Latest Technologies, There is a Whole Lot More to the Job Than Stamping Due Dates:

In the Library With Lead Pipe is maintained by a group of writers and the postings are more like essay style on various topic, ranging from social networking tools to welcoming homeless in the libraries. The postings are quite lengthy and include references to the sources that provide authentication of the postings.

David Lee King has a very useful blog where he shares an interesting article on the use of social media in organizations, offers many tips on video cameras and lighting, presentation skills and other interesting topics related to the library. The postings are short,but includes screen shots, video links and images that enhanced the appearance of the blog, making it more engaging and visually appealing.

2. I personally like to read blogs that offers information on the recent trend in technological advancements, that talks about the various tools and applications that can be used in libraries today to proactively communicate with the online community, and also to share and organize knowledge and information in a more efficient and logical order. For example, in one of the five blogs that I subscribed to for this assignment, I leaned about a great tool called 'postpost', which allows you to get the best news and information from Facebook all in one page, which I believe is an excellent tool for managing information and saves a lot of time as it brings together postings by the contacts you are interested in.

 3. I have subscribed to three different types of library blogs from the list in the week 3. ACRL stands for Association for College and Research libraries. Its blog is maintained by Academic and Research librarians and the topics revolves around issues related to Academic libraries and librarianship. 'Gargoyles loose in the library' is a blog maintained by a librarian at University Laboratory High School, Urbano-Champagne, and expresses news and views from the high school library. St. Joseph County public library or the SJCPL blog has a pretty engaging and attractive blog, which offers topics ranging from the list of New York Times bestseller to Valentine's Day play list, with active participation from the online community of library users.
4. Library blogs should have interesting and engaging postings, while maintaining consistency in style and approach. Writing posts that sparks discussion or a debate also is a good way of making a library blog successful as there are usually certain number of people in every community who follow the local community library's blog in a regular basis, or in the case of academic or special libraries, faculty and students can be drawn into the blog if a discussion is started on a current and interesting topic. 

Excercise#1

 TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is a web and mobile marketplace that connects "senders and runners", providing people and businesses an easy and trusted way to get everyday Tasks done in their own communities. It is pretty interesting what they can do for you,  starting from dropping off Goodwill donations (that also includes mailing you your tax receipt), grocery shopping, cook dinner, organize your garage, walk your dog, weed your garden, exchange a purchase, organize your iTunes library, pick up from Ikea and assemble the furniture for you, you name it, they do it for you!

1. People have mixed opinion about TaskRabbit services. While most people are happy with their service, some are disappointed because their tasks were not completed. I could find these reviews through Yelp, www.businesspundit.com, sfweekly.com  and webupon.com. One person commented about TaskRabbit on businesspundit:

"Are things really so bad here in the States that wealthy people are employing the unemployed masses on command, to run errands for a little change? Worse yet, have all those transactions on record so that they can be taxed? As neat and effective as TaskRabbit is, I can’t help but see it as symbol of our own society’s economic degredation. There aren’t enough jobs to go around, so those of us who are better off are employing “the help” through the Internet."

2. No, TaskRabbit does not seem to respond to these reviews, their online presence were seen only in Facebbok, twitter, their blog, and their website through which they communicate with their customers and earn businesses.


3. TaskRabbit has a strong online presence through Facebook, twitter, and their blog. In fact their TaskRabbit fanbase in Facebook has almost 2000 followers, and they are offering a FREE task to the 2000th fan and also to the first five fans liking this post. Here is the TaskRabbit in Facebook:

  TaskRabbit's Facebook has a simple, straight to the point landing page that encourages everyone ‘like’ and  get involved. They have connected the entire community through their fan page by integrating youTube channel, blog, and even community polls all in one spot. They are pretty interactive with their customer base, and through their twitter and Facebook page, they are able to effectively communicate share useful tips and notify TaskRabbit followers about upcoming errand trips in the locality in case someone else is interested for a similar task.

TaskRabbit's CEO and founder, Leah Busque, was on the Laura Ingraham radio show on Feb 2nd. Check this out!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3986643/020111_hour3blockC.mp3

Also, check out the video about TaskRabbit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/38573156#38573156

Q 6. What organization you find inspirational in their use of social media and why?

In the light of the current economic downturn, it has become increasingly challenging for companies and organizations to maintain their reputation, quality of service they provide to the customers, quality of the products they produce etc. Due to the advent of web 2.0 technology, it is has become one the most successful survival tool for the organizations to have a strong presence online and monitor their reputation and views of the customers using their services.
 As I was browsing through the Southwest airlines website, I got really impressed to see how well connected they are with their customers, reaching out to people every hour through online forums, Facebook, twitter, youtube and flickr. In their website, there is forum where Southwest airline customers express and exchange their views on their experiences, which is often pretty useful for frequent fliers. SW has a strong presence in Facebook, with 1,308,144 fans and also maintain a twitter account, youtube and flikr account where SW airline customers can upload pictures of the places they visited flying with SW airlines. Overall, this airline is definitely making the best use of the web 2.0 technologies to successfully run the business and give the website a strong online presence.

blogpostwk2, blogpostwk2n6

2. How have social software tools had an effect on your life or work?

My experience with Web 2.0 technologies has been pretty limited, only using Facebook to post library programs and events and watching Youtube once in a while. Personally, I like to stay away from Facebook as much as I can, because of the privacy factor I am sure many of us will agree. I feel it is more useful to the younger generation, who prefer to socialize over the net for the convenience of it. I see my teenage son spending hours on Facebook, even sharing homework information and working on school projects. I have to admit that I enjoy to share the photos with my family and friends through FB which is a lot faster than sharing them through email or by any other means. Other than that, I don't see much use of Facebook in my life.
As far as work is concerned, we have a strong user base of 522 monthly active users, over 2000 daily post views and 15-20 people commenting on the library's postings every day. We have a blog which is pretty active, gaining popularity with time, as more and more patrons are taking part in the discussion on various topics related to the library.
I have used google docs for the group work in one of the MLIS class, which I enjoyed a great deal. LibraryThing is another very useful tool that I  use occasionally. It is really amazing how convenient it is now to collaborate, cooperate and share resources nowadays due to web 2.0 technology, I am ready to learn more about magic of the various tools available to serve the online library community.

A little about me

I have started SLIS in Spring 2008, and  finished 10 classes so far (sigh). I live in Irvine, CA and work as a Library Assistant in children's department in a public library. As part of my job responsibilities, I update and maintain the kid's webpage, and post news about the upcoming programs and events in the Facebook as an adminstrator on behalf of the library. I have been always interested to now more about the social networking sites, but always found myself hard pressed against time to explore into web 2.0 world in more elaborate way. Hence I signed up for this class, hoping to learn a lot about the recent trend and how libraries can benefit by adapting the web 2.0 technology to better serve the online community. As it is clearly evident, it is not going to be a smooth ride for the libraries in California with the proposed $30.4 million cut in library funding, I wonder if incorporating web 2.0 technologies to replace some of the existing services will be an option for libraries in near future?