Blog And Pony Nov 2008

Your Blog and Pony Show: Using Blogs and RSS to Tell Your Library Story Presented by Louise Alcorn Reference Technology Librarian West Des Moines (Iowa) Public Library For the East Central Library Service Area November 21, 2008

Your Blog and Pony Show

What’s a blog?

Why would a library want one?

What can a library do with a blog?

What’s RSS?

How can we ‘feed’ our library information to patrons via RSS?

How can we use blogs and RSS to keep our main website’s content fresh?

Blogs – What You May Have Heard

blog (web log or weblog)

blogger

blogging

blogosphere

More “Bloggish” Words

podcast (audio)

Podcasting - a method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet

vlog (video) – see some of these on blip.tv

moblog (mobile)

Blogroll (list of blogs)

Biblioblogosphere

What is a blog?

From Wikipedia.org (1/28/07):

A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs . Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), [a portfolio of sketches] (sketchblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

The term "blog" is derived from "Web log." "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

As of November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs

What is a blog?

A user-generated website with:

Posts – text, links, images, audio, video

Organized chronologically by date (new @ top)

Unique URL’s for posts (permalinks)

Comments – very important aspect of blogs

Self-archives by date (automated)

Searchable (usually)

Conversational style

May limit authorship or readership to certain individuals or groups

Provides an “RSS feed” that “syndicates” the content for readers – it comes to me!

Some Librarian Blog Examples

Librarian.net (Jessamyn West)

http://Librarian.net

Tame the Web (Michael Stephens)

http://www.tametheweb.com

The Shifted Librarian (Jenny Levine)

http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com

Includes lots of info on library gaming

List of Librarian Blogs at LISWiki

http:// liswiki.org/wiki/Weblogs

Some Library Institutional Blogs

Waterloo (IA) Public Library Reference News - http://wpl-reference.blogspot.com/ Info from the Reference Dept.

Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library - http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/StdBackPage.aspx?id=86 Links to 20 subject areas, each with its own blog!

Iowa City (IA) Public Library Teen Blog - http://teens.icpl.org/

Birmingham (AL) Public Library - http:// bplolinenews.blogspot.com /

Birmingham PL Blog

http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/

Waterloo PL Reference Blog

http://wpl-reference.blogspot.com/

More Library Blogs

Ann Arbor (Michigan) District Library – http://aadl.org Their entire site is blogs!

Find a list of library blogs at BlogWithoutALibrary.net Blogging Libraries Wiki:

http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki

Public, Academic, School, Special

Ann Arbor (Michigan) District Library – http://aadl.org Their entire site is blogs! Find a list of library blogs at BlogWithoutALibrary.net Blogging Libraries Wiki: http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki Public, Academic, School, Special

Why Have a Library Blog?

Helps tell your “library story” – humanizes and personalizes your library

An efficient means to empower staff to communicate with the public (and each other – think about a staff blog!)

Adds freshness to your website

Link to separate blog site (Birmingham), or

Embed blog in your website (aadl.org)

Why Have a Library Blog? (cont.)

Creates a library “community” online in a way no static website can.

Increases information literacy by keeping your patrons (and staff) current on library events, resources and more

Communicate with your patrons their way – aka “60 million blogs can’t be (all) wrong!”

Other Uses for Blogs

Community Information – Create a clearinghouse for community information. Fresh and useful!

Reader’s Advisory – book review and discussion blogs. From staff to patron, patron to patron, etc.

Hennepin County (MN) BookSpace http://www.hclib.org/pub/bookspace/

Staff Communication – create a staff blog!

She Said/He Said – Kankakee (IL) PL http://lions-online-shesaidhesaid.blogspot.com/

Staff Communication – create a staff blog!

Speak directly to and with teens using a library teen blog – events, book club, etc.

Iowa City Teens Blog

http://teens.icpl.org/

Library Staff Blog Examples

Newman Library at Baruch College – NYC

http://referencenewman.blogspot.com/

(excellent example of collaborative staff blog – uses blogger.com – clean, useful design)

Kankakee Public Library “Library Musings”

http://kpllibrarymusings.blogspot.com/

(this is open to the public, but is written by all library staff – not the director!)

Library Musings – Kankakee (IL) PL http://kpllibrarymusings.blogspot.com/

Creating a Blog

Popular Software & Services

MovableType (Perl/MySQL)

http://www.movabletype.org/

WordPress (PHP/MySQL)

http://wordpress.org/

Typepad (blog software for a fee)

http://www.typepad.com

Blogger (free Web service) **

http://www.blogger.com/

Blogger.com

Start a Blog – As Easy As:

1) Create a Blogger Account

2) Name Your Blog

3) Choose a Template for your blog

4) Start Posting!

Create an Account

Name Your Blog

Choose a Template

Start Posting

Blogger.com Options

Create more than one blog – manage them all from one “dashboard”

Show/Hide Comments – your choice

Restrict authors to invited participants only

Restrict readers to invited participants only, or solely to authors (staff blog)

Change elements within template to create your own “look and feel”

Add images, video, sound

Republish your blog embedded into your website –keep your website fresh!

Searching for Blogs to Read

Other Ways to Find Blogs

Word of Mouth

Your favorite sites – look for their blog

Amazon.com Daily http://www.amazon.com/gp/daily/

Amazon.com Author Blogs http:// www.amazon.com/gp/daily/subscriptions?ie =UTF8&view= artistBlogs

Google Librarian Central http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/

Powell’s Books Blog http://www.powells.com/blog/

The handout I sent you 

From other blogs (Blogroll – list at side of blog)

Any Questions?

Blog Statistics – From Jenny Levine’s Presentation on “Blogs, RSS and Wikis in Way Too Short a Time” (2006)

Signs That You’ve Become Addicted to Reading Blogs

You’re spending all your time linking to all these crazy websites and reading blogs.

Your mouse hand hurts from clicking.

You’ve started your own blog to join in the fun.

You keep seeing these funny little orange symbols and you wonder if it’s a secret code only bloggers know…

RSS – Telling Your Story

Questions about RSS

Ever wonder if there’s an easier way to read your favorite blogs than all that clicking?

Ever wonder what those crazy orange symbols on the sides of blogs mean?

(Note: Movement to use a single standard icon is afoot at www.feedicons.com )

What is RSS?

RSS is:

rather hard to describe in text, easier to show

stands for:

Rich Site Summary

RDF Site Summary

Really Simple Syndication

a form of XML (web markup language) used for syndicating news items on the Internet. It’s for machines to read, not for people.

what allows RSS aggregators to read your blogs for you and then serve them up to you.

How Does RSS Work?

The Quick and Dirty Version:

The information provider (blogger, news source) creates a file which is translated, usually automatically by their blog software, into an RSS file.

The file is uploaded to a Web server

Users subscribe to the file via an aggregator or feed reader . They may type the URL directly into their aggregator, copy and paste it, or they may click one of those orange icons to subscribe:

The aggregator periodically checks the file for updated content.

When the author updates the RSS file (blog post), the user is automatically notified of the new items (via the aggregator) and may read them at their leisure.

What Does RSS Look Like?

Some RSS Feeds

Librarian’s Index to the Internet – lii.org

Librarian.net

Flickr.com

LISNews.org

Unshelved – Library Web Comic – http://www.unshelved.com/rss.aspx

Google News – also its own news aggregator

News: CNN, BBC, NYTimes, Toronto Star

EBSCOHost - Top Stories, Newsletters, Podcasts

Benefits of RSS

Can be corralled into an Aggregator for easier viewing and fewer clicks.

Information is served to the ‘customer’ in a single location. They rarely need to go to the original website unless the author sends them there, or to view special content.

Information is received in a timely manner – basically when it’s posted.

So What Can You Do With RSS?

Keep yourself current on library topics, news, hobby blogs, etc. via an Aggregator.

Create an RSS Feed of your library blog – speak directly to your patrons.

Blog software does this for you automatically.

Feed info to your staff via a staff blog – they can be sent all of it, or can subscribe to individual ‘categories’ (reference, children’s, YA, etc.) of information.

“ Republish” feeds on your library website – help keep your website content fresh

RSS Aggregators Or, How to Save Valuable Blog-Reading Time!

What is an Aggregator?

Not an amphibious reptile with large teeth, native to the Florida Everglades.

From Wikipedia: “An aggregator or news aggregator or feed reader is client software that uses a web feed to retrieve syndicated web content such as weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites, or in the case of a search aggregator, a customized set of search results.”

Also known as a Feed Reader

Why Use an Aggregator?

All your content (blog posts, news feeds) comes to one location, rather than you having to remember to go find it.

It checks for updates automatically.

Displays only new items for you.

In some cases you can use it to search for additional feeds on similar subjects.

From Jenny Levine

Types of Aggregators

Client

FeedReader

Server-based

Feed on Feeds

Add-on

Puck for IE6

Built-in

IE7 & Firefox 2.x

IE7’s RSS Aggregator

Right-click a specific feed to view its Properties (at right).

Types of Aggregators

Client

FeedReader

Server-based

Feed on Feeds

Add-on

Puck for IE6

Built-in

IE7 & Firefox 2.x

Web-based service**

Bloglines.com

Using Bloglines.com – As Easy As:

1) Create a Bloglines Account

2) Verify Account via email

3) Find RSS Feeds to Read

4) Subscribe to Feeds

5) Check Bloglines.com every day (hour?) for new posts

Create an Account

Verify Account via email

Find RSS Feeds to Read

Subscribe to Feeds

Another Add Option – The Subscribe Button

Reading Your Bloglines Feeds

Bloglines Tutorials

Bloglines for Librarians in Three (and a half) Easy Steps http://joy.mollprojects.com/myprojects/rss/quickrss.html

LawLibTech: RSS Tutorial Using Bloglines - http://lawlibtech.com/archives/000324.html

WisBlawg - http://wisblawg.blogspot.com/2004/09/tutorial-on-reading-blogs-with.html (links to PowerPoint)

Any Questions?

What was that you said about “republishing” feeds on our website to keep it fresh?

Republishing RSS Feeds

Use RSS to republish feeds on your library website – keep your content fresh with little effort!

Portions of the following slides were taken with permission from Karen Burns’ “Feed It: Adding iRead RSS Feeds to Your Website” presentation for Southwest Iowa Library Service Area. http://www.swilsa.lib.ia.us/tutorials/ireadRSS/player.html

How it works Blog RSS Feed Webpage

Republishing – As Easy As: