Slamming the boards

The internet has changed all aspects of the World and our lives, nothing seems to remain untouched. We are an instant society and I guess that libraries have to keep moving to remain relevant.

Slamming the boards is one way that libraries can hang in there, stay involved and promote reference services. I don't think that people who have grown up with the internet being ever present have the patience to attend a library, present a reference query at an interview and wait for an answer. Now that I think of it, I can remember the last time I sent off a subject request to our reference librarian. Having a site that librarians can demonstrate their skills and provide answers along with sources to questions posed would give a guarantee of truthfulness and accuracy rather than an opinion. Answer boards allow libraries to remain pertinent and to retain their niche in the knowledge market.

I am sure their are many librarians in our library system who would love to participate in answer boards, it may be the future for reference questions. As always, with staffing issues finding time from the day to day activities is another matter. We would need major senior management encouragement and acceptance.

Me and RSS

I have stumbled through Real Simple Syndication and now managed to get a number of feeds in my account. Must admit, couldn't have done it without a very patient, very clever colleague.
I used the NSW Public Libraries Learning 2.00 recommendations, I found there was enough happening without having to go out and do my own searches. Besides, the Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day will be a brilliant way to start my morning.

I enjoyed the YouTube introduction to rss. It was basic, this is how I need things. It immediately pointed out that with rss things came to me in the form of latest updates, I no longer had to go out and search. I can see how this can be a real time saver. I can have all my favorite sites listed and choose what up to date information I want to view, all from my own site.

I have now gone and done a search for rss and libraries and come across three very interesting sites. I hope to digest them tonight and really get a feel for how libraries can best use rss.