Look .... it's a feeding frenzy!

Finnish cane farmers in Tully catching up with the latest news in 1923. (Photo found on SLQ's photostream).

Wow! What a trip! I know sometimes it's hard to get a good feed on the road, but this jaunt provided me with plenty of indulgences. So far, this has been the "best" on the 2.0 highway. I know what you're saying I bet she says that to all the boys (blogs).

It's time for me to fess up. My name is Tammy and I am a ... (gulp) ... news junkie. I am devoted to following the news, love having the latest information and hate being out of the loop. So the idea of feeds appeals to me. I am lucky that keeping up to date with the news does assist me greatly in my job on the reference desk. Anyway, that's my excuse for the addiction.

Whilst I have ventured on the "Feeds Freeway" before, this was my first opportunity to inspect it so thoroughly. I have been roaming for hours now and have finally pulled the car up for a bit of a "driver reviver".

I have been treating myself to sites that provide feeds on my pet subjects including "typical" news, plus news on the offbeat, entertainment and public libraries. Though, I did venture off the beaten path and saw all sorts of fascinating feeds and more than a few disturbing ones. For the latter I think it's best to leave it at "what happens on the road stays on the road".

After a bit of touring I pulled into Bloglines and set up my account. It was a breeze - the road was smooth and so easy to navigate on. Initially, I let it set the menu by going with several choices from the "Quick Picks" and "most popular subscriptions" suggestions - including Libraries, News, and Books.

There was some branching off to find some nourishment elsewhere. In the end, I chose more than ten feeds. Included were: OPAL training , SLQ news, Crikey, A pair of raggedclaws, and At the movies.

On the trip, I saw a lot of libraries are using RSS feeds. Many academic libraries are using it for highlighting the latest items added to collection. I spent a lot of time looking at public libraries use of it and can see the benefits of it for marketing events and services and essentially "cutting to the chase" of snappy links to relevant information.

I certainly see myself making use my Bloglines account. For me, it's the convenience of having news on my pet subjects put into one location. The added beauty is the fact I can customise it to my personal preferences.

I think I will make good use of this and go to the "feedbag" personally and professionally. I discovered it is a speedy way of keeping in touch with the latest to do with my profession from literature to technology. Now, mind you I am not going to totally abandon my actual ABC news readers and my daily newspapers, but I am certainly heading off in a new news direction.

Just paying a (an anti) social visit...?

Hmmm ...the social network neighbourhood is not a place that I would normally stopover personally.

Use of it by some of my family has made me well acquainted with its attractions. My nieces are sociable beings in both the real world and the online community. Others have sprouted its virtues for keeping up with the friends (new and old) and I know more than a few people who use it to keep up with exes! At this point I'd rather visit occasionally. Letting it all hang out is not for me.

Nevertheless, in the past fortnight in my sojourn to libraries' use of the social networking facilities, I can see some advantages. Seeing the virtual village is expanding, libraries can benefit from not only having a presence in this online world but actively reaching out to its members.

On the road, I stopped by many social network forays made by public libraries and discovered some interesting bridges and intersections. The use of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to promote events and services to entice, encourage and excite like an online grapevine was fascinating. I especially like Twitter's short but sweet tweets.

Seeing libraries being hospitable hosts using social networking to provide videoposts and podcasts as a kinda online tour of their services was great fun. I witnessed other interesting uses. I loved the online book clubs in this environment where like-minded and opinionated alike could express and exchange. Also did some "drive bys" of other special interest networking, for example, genealogists and crafters. I found lots of libraries creating great teen-directed networks.

What caught my eye were some readers' advisory venues on these sites. Often this is an overlooked aspect of library services and I see this being a potentially great element to use.

I accept that in this ever expanding online 24/7 world, libraries should be making virtual connections. Facebook (and the like) has its place but I feel the value of face to face should be upheld. Our energies should be directed at making and keeping "friends", "fans", "followers" in the real world and the virtual world.