Tuesday, August 18, 2009

But Which RSS Newsfeeds Does Libraryland Roundup Recommend?

We read a number of newsfeeds here at the 'ol Roundup. Anne takes time to scan and then share her feed with us! This makes finding items and posting a snap.


Of course, we humbly suggest

Libraryland Roundup
http://librarylandroundup.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here are a few we couldn't do without, with their rss URLs:


VITAL TO LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
The Reader's Advisor Online Blog
http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/index.php/feed/

Stephen's Lighthouse
http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/atom.xml

trendwatching.com
http://www.trendwatching.com/newsletter/rss.xml


Booklist Online - At Leisure with Joyce Saricks
http://www.booklistonline.com/At%20Leisure%20with%20Joyce%20Saricks.rss


Booklist Online - Read-alikes
http://www.booklistonline.com/Read-alikes.rss


Other Great Stuff

Gather No Dust
http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

librarian.net
http://librarian.net/feed

LibrarianInBlack
http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/index.rdf


Library Journal - Collection Development
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibraryJournal-CollectionDevelopment


Library Journal - Genre Fiction
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibraryJournal-GenreFiction


Library Journal - Public Services
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibraryJournal-PublicServices

MCLC Library Tech Talk
http://mclctechtalk.wordpress.com/feed/

RA for All
http://raforall.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

RUSQ
http://www.rusq.org/index.php/feed/

WAMU: The Diane Rehm Show
http://feeds.feedburner.com/WAMU885DianeRehm

Srsly, You Need to Use RSS, Newsreaders

Keeping up-to-date is vital to library workers. What's coming up? What are topics your users are likely to ask for? How on earth does Libraryland Roundup find all these things?

The answer is a newsreader. No more trying to remember to visit a useful site! And newsreaders do not just carry rss from blogs! The Diane Rehm show on NPR has a newsfeed, CNN has a newsfeed, see USA Today bestseller lists as soon as they are published!

You can even see Libraryland Roundup posts as they go up.

It's easy to set up and easy to train yourself to check it daily, or at least frequently. Just think of it as email updates in a scanable format. You might want to consider making it as important as your email. There is some discussion on that.

But how oh how do you set this up? I'm going to show Google Reader only as it seems to have cornered the marketplace.

Here are some instructional pages
[PDF] Setting Up A Very Easy RSS Reader
How to Create a Google Account and Set Up Google Feed Reader ...

Caveat: With Google Reader you create an account. If you already have gmail you already have an account. This also gives you a gmail account. I would use your personal email to sign up. You'll probably find yourself falling into temptation and adding a few non-library feeds to read at home.

Here are some Youtube instructional videos as well.



Best Blogs for Library Students (and the rest of us)

Best Blogs for Library Students
via RA for All by Becky on 8/14/09
"...I found this great list of the 100 Best Blogs for Library School Students. After looking at it I thought it would be helpful to all fans of libraries and reading. Of particular note to readers of this blog, entries 74-86 which list, "Reading and Literature Blogs."

Dan Brown's Lost Symbol

Besides stocking tons of these books, it is important to be able to refer your readers to readalikes. Face it, those waits for holds will be looooooong! Here is yet another list of readalikes

click here for lists of readalikes

(for my co-workers: I will be working like crazy to make shared/community lists and also handouts asap)

Genre Talk

Some great stuff lately describing and discussiong genre

Mystery via Library Journal - Genre Fiction on 8/14/09"Using the past as a main ingredient in solving present-day crimes has increasingly become an important element in contemporary mysteries.

"Romance via Library Journal - Genre Fiction on 8/14/09"Paranormal Everywhere Paranormal romance is still enthralling readers. In addition to carving out discrete romance niches—vampire romance, shape-changer romance (werewolves, werecats, etc.), witch romance, and so on—magical and paranormal elements continue to seep into other romance subgenres with delightful, or alarming, regularity"

Still Page Turners 10 years Later via RA for All by Becky on 8/16/09"Click here to read Isabel Wilkinson's "Back to the 90s" article outlining nine page turners from the 1990s that are still holding strong."

Monday, August 10, 2009

Best Websites: The Tradition Continues

In early library internet use, the big push was to find websites that were authoritative, accurate, and useful for the users. We made lists. We linked. We conquered.

The list-making has stilled a bit in libraryland, but don't think it's over! We still need to be aware of both what's out there and what's not out there. PC Magazine is keeping up with the trends and using both blogs and open source to present the information. I'm impressed!

PC Magazine's Top 100 Websites of 2009 via Stephen's Lighthouse by stephen on 8/4/09

(When you get to the site, click on the slideshow for actual screenshots of the websites!)

You're Better at Reader's Advisory Than You Think!

By merely presenting the first sentence from the title in question, Joyce Saricks proves to us that we know more about Reader's Advisory than we think!

At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: Taking On the Quiz Challenge.
via Booklist Online - At Leisure with Joyce Saricks on 8/10/09