Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Benefits of RSS
Since starting this course I have become aware of the benefits of RSS in terms of organising my reading. I forget about favourites that I have created and so they either don't work when I come to use them again or I just never get around to checking them. E-mail alerts are too "in your face" and always seem to come into my inbox at an inconvenient time. I file them away in a folder to be read and then they get forgotten about. By using an RSS aggregator I can pull this information together and then check up on things at a convenient time possibly once a week or even once a day. During this course I have been using the Bloglines notifier so an icon appears when one of the blogs I'm monitoring is updated. If I start to subscribe to more RSS feeds I may have to reconsider this approach as it can be as distracting as getting new e-mails (I always feel compelled to check). the point is it's great to have the choice.
I'm sure that many library users would find RSS similarly impressive and I think I will have to consider factoring this in with other training and support that the library service offers regarding current awareness alerts. For other library users it will be a step too far (i regularly encounter library users who have issues in using a keyboard and mouse and who need to grasp how to use windows and internet explorer.)
I think RSS offers another potential communication chanel for marketing library services and could meet some users needs in terms of keeping up to date with their reading. I also think that taking RSS feeds from other sites can enrich a library website with interesting current content. I have the hitting the headlines feed on my library intranet pages for some topical interest.
I'm sure that many library users would find RSS similarly impressive and I think I will have to consider factoring this in with other training and support that the library service offers regarding current awareness alerts. For other library users it will be a step too far (i regularly encounter library users who have issues in using a keyboard and mouse and who need to grasp how to use windows and internet explorer.)
I think RSS offers another potential communication chanel for marketing library services and could meet some users needs in terms of keeping up to date with their reading. I also think that taking RSS feeds from other sites can enrich a library website with interesting current content. I have the hitting the headlines feed on my library intranet pages for some topical interest.
# posted by Jessica @ 3:07 pm 
Comments:
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I think you're quite right that for many of our readers, using RSS will be beyond them at the moment. There may be ways we can support them though, such as packaging feeds on a topic, or setting up the NLH MyLibrary for them.
The more useful content we produce (and can show to have a benefit in terms of patient care) the more support we might get from our IT departments or senior management.
The more useful content we produce (and can show to have a benefit in terms of patient care) the more support we might get from our IT departments or senior management.
Thanks for mentioning the Bloglines notifier, as one of the problems i've had before is that i forget to check my RSS so this makes it much easier.
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