Community Building Through Your Web Site: Library Blogs and RSS Feeds

What fun! We had a great crowd for the session being in the last slot of the conference!

Our Audience for the PLA Session

Links to our presentation:

http://www.tametheweb.com/presentations/BlogsPLA06.pdf

Our Six Things We Can Do Now: (Via the Librarian in Black)

1. Read weblogs and checkout what other libraries are doing. Keep tabs on new developments. Go to http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net.
2. Start your own “What’s New” blog at your library. Update it often and create an environment of dynamic content. Turn comments on.
3. Appoint a “trend reporter” at the library who watches what’s going on and reports back to staff. Form an Emerging Technology Committee.
4. Train your staff to use an aggregator to read RSS feeds. Use Bloglines or BlogBridge. There are many other choices as well.
5. Advocate for RSS to be built into the products we pay for. It will allow us to place more content out in our communities and makes the library discoverable.
6. Learn about Library 2.0. It replicates user-driven and user-centered services online. Google the term to find out more.