Someone had a question this week about switching feed readers, and since others might have similar questions, I thought I’d talk about it here. I also wanted to share this recent comparison of Google Reader and Bloglines which might help you decide which is the best fit for you.

If you’ve been trying out a particular feed reader and you’ve decided to switch to another, you can change the preferences in Firefox to default to your preferred reader when you click to subscribe. Go to to the Tools Menu > Options > Feeds. There you can select a default reader.

If you’ve collected a sizable number of feeds, you may not want to subscribe to them all again in the new reader. Most readers will allow you to export your feeds as an OPML file then import that file into the new reader. It might be slightly more complicated if you’re going from Bloglines to something else, because in Part 2 of the course I directed you to use the beta version of Bloglines which has a much-improved interface. However, since it’s still in development, they have not yet added the export feature. You can get around this by logging into the old interface here: http://www.bloglines.com with your username and password. Once in, click on the Feeds tab and scroll down to Additional Feature > Export Subscriptions. Save the export file to your desktop.

Then log into Google Reader (I’m assuming you’ve already set up your account.) Check here for instructions on importing the feeds. Other readers will follow a similar import process.

There’s a great post this week from Meredith Farkas that discusses hopes, expectations, and realities of the movement that has come to be known as “Library 2.0.” Her emphasis is on the need for assessment and good planning with regard to your particular audience. It’s good to be aware of the changing technology landscape, but it’s still important to match the tools you use to the needs of your users. Read her post as well as the one from John Blyberg that she uses as a springboard. Also read through the many comments — you might even want to chime in yourself. Or, if you prefer, leave a comment here or write a post in your own blog as a response.

Here’s a brief article talking about Wordpress (the platform we’re using for blogging) and its founder, Matt Mullenweg (who is obscenely young!) While reading it, I was struck by the parallels between the open source software movement and the general philosophy of public libraries to offer materials without charge or discrimination. It’s also interesting that open source software is developed in a collaborative, participatory way, and therefore, is also an example of the Read-Write Web.

As technology becomes more and more intertwined with library services, I hope to see more open source library applications and less proprietary, exclusionary ones. A couple examples that are gaining momentum are library catalog solutions. Check out Scriblio and Evergreen.

The Library of Congress recently partnered with Flickr in a pilot project. LC already has a lot of images available online through their own site, but by putting images in Flickr, they get the benefit of an interface and a community that a huge number of people are already using regularly. Also, putting images in an interactive environment (that allows commenting and tagging) adds a whole new dimension, making it easier and more interesting for a larger number of people to be exposed to the treasure trove of materials that LC has digitized. The library will also gain additional information and feedback from this exposure. See what they have to say about the project so far. What do you think about it? What are the implications for smaller libraries?

You may have noticed that several of the sites/tools you have worked with so far have the word “beta” attached to them (Bloglines, LibWorm, and Google Blog Search to mention a few) In software development, something is said to be “in beta” when it is mostly finished and is being tested by a larger group of people who give feedback so developers can polish the product for its final release.

In the past, you might have had to wait years for a new version of software, in the meantime putting up with any shortcomings. More recently, there has been a shift toward being very responsive to user feedback and making constant small improvements rather than saving it all up for a big release — hence, an extended or even perpetual beta phase. This is particularly true of web-based software.

You can see a more in-depth definition of “perpetual beta” on Wikipedia, but also think about the implications of this concept for library services — both technology-dependent ones as well as in-person services. We should always be thinking about ways to align library services more closely to the needs and expectations of our users and be prepared to make small changes on a regular basis. We need to be creative and solutions-oriented. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” does not fly anymore.

RSS is a tool that you should be looking at through two lenses. First, think about how it can be useful to you personally for keeping up with professional topics and news (and personal interests too.) There are many personal/profession blogs out there that might be worth subscribing to, for example, LibraryCrunch and Stephen’s Lighthouse. See Part 1 of the course web site under Blogs To Watch for more examples. If you are better informed and more up-to-date, that can only improve the service you provide.

But, you also should be thinking about RSS feeds in terms of how you might offer them as a convenience to your end users. Libraries are offering feeds of content they create (library news, reading recommendations, etc.) as well as leveraging feeds that are built into subscription services (i.e. databases and catalogs.) These are some of the most popular uses for RSS feeds in libraries:

• News and events promotion
• New materials or staff picks
• Integrate selected resources into courseware
• Custom search alerts from databases or catalog

See Part 2 of the course site for some examples.

Remember that in all of these cases, the information goes to the user — not the other way around. It’s all about integrating library presence and resources at likely points of need and giving the user some control over how they get their information.

At the end of 2006, Time magazine declared the collective “You” as Person of the Year. They give a nice summary of the Read/Write Web (though the author doesn’t use that term.)

This cover gives us a lot to think about as information professionals. It describes the general culture and population — some of whom are library users. It is imperative that stay abreast of this communication revolution and be adaptable, so libraries can be in step with the needs and expectations of those users. Also, as the landscape gets increasingly diffuse, librarians may be more necessary than ever to help people navigate and make determinations about the quality of information.

Due to holiday closures at Simmons, I did not get the class list in time for a Jan. 1 start, so don’t worry if you are a little behind on the deadlines for the first week or so. I hope you are all excited about doing a lot of hands-on exploration for this class, because that really is the best way to understand this stuff. Most of you are probably somewhat familiar with the things we will be covering, but just haven’t found the time to actually get your hands dirty and figure it all out for yourself. This is your opportunity.

Over the last year or two, there has been a lot of talk about Web 2.0. Unfortunately, that’s not a very descriptive term, and it was probably never intended to become a catch-all buzz word spinning off things like Library 2.0, Marketing 2.0, etc. If you’re curious about the origins of the phrase, hear it from the source.

Really, all the “2.0″suggests is a new version or an upgrade of something. But the web has been evolving all along and continues to evolve. It has been shifting in a direction that makes it much more participatory and interactive and goes way beyond the static web page. People are now doing more on the web (e.g. word processing and spreadsheets, bookmarks, project management, building networks of friends or business associates) and more people are doing things on the web. Gone are the days when there were a small number of people creating content and a vast, passive audience. Basically, that is the definition of The Read/Write Web. I think this is a much more descriptive and useful term that captures this era in the evolution of the web. However, keep in mind that some people will use Web 2.0 or web-as-platform or other terms to describe some of those same things. It’s also important to remember that the terms are not as important as the communication revolution that they are attempting to describe. That revolution is very really and very relevant to us as information professionals.

One of the things that really helped make the web a medium where many can reach many is blogs. Blogs are easy to edit web sites that have opened up web publishing to the masses. You will see this week that it’s quite easy to set up a blog and get familiar with how to write posts. The purpose and the quality of the content is up to the individual or the organization, but the need to know html code is no longer a barrier.

Let me close by saying that you should feel free to leave comments here in my blog to start discussions or ask questions. Others should then feel free to chime in or answer too. And in a few days you will all have your own blog where you can share your opinions and thoughts and others can comment and discuss.