1. Blogs and Feeds
  2. Feeds Aimed at Library Users
    1. Library Home Pages as Blogs
    2. Blogs for Alternative OPAC Display
    3. Bibliographer Feeds
    4. Catalog Feeds
    5. Current Awareness for Journals
    6. Library Instruction Feeds
    7. Library News
    8. Reference Services Feeds
    9. Specific User Groups
  3. Feeds Aimed at Librarians
  4. Further Reading

Blogs and Feeds

A blog is simply an easily updated web page where new content is added in a daily journal-like fashion (each new item on the blog indicates the date and time that it was added to the blog. Those who read blogs can subscribe to the blog to notified of any new postings on it; the software mechanism for that subscription is called RSS. What you are actually subscribing to is called a "feed," much as newspaper offices once subscribed to a feed from Associated Press of breaking news stories (those feeds were first delivered over telegraph lines, then later telephone lines).

 

There are some web-based services that can generate a RSS feed without there being an attendant blog. A library catalog, for example, can sometimes be configured to automatically generate a feed of new books added to it. Library patrons can then subscribe to the catalog feed to be notified of new books in a given subject area.

 

Feeds Aimed at Library Users

 

Library Home Pages as Blogs

 

Blogs for Alternative OPAC Display

  • Plymouth State University Libary Here's a sample item record for a book displayed in blog format (WordPress is the blogging software behind the scenes). Note the Amazon.com description at the bottom of the entry, as well as the "Search Inside This Book" feature, also from Amazon.com. Finally, note the list of "Related" items.

 

Bibliographer Feeds

These are subject specific, and posts are written by the relevant bibliographer (e.g., the bibliographer for history writes the posts for the history feed).

 

Catalog Feeds

These feeds mine holdings info in the online catalog to generate lists of new acquisitions.

 

Current Awareness for Journals

Some journal publishers are generating feeds for each journal that alert users of new issues.

 

Library Instruction Feeds

 

Library News

 

Reference Services Feeds

These public feeds offer a mix of instruction and reference information for the library's users.

 

Specific User Groups

 

Feeds Aimed at Librarians

These feeds are hidden from the view of users and are written by and and for library staff.

 

Further Reading

 


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