Thing # 9 - Useful Library Related Blogs and News Feeds

I finally had to stop looking at blogs, feeds, gadgets, and all the other fun stuff you come across in this type of exploration learning and create this post. It is time to move on to Thing 10! So what have I learned from this?

1. A lot of people either have a lot of time on their hands, don't sleep, don't clean house, don't shop for groceries, don't do laundry, etc., OR they are much better at organizing their time than I am! Even now, I feel guilty sitting here posting when I know others need me to do all of my weekend chores!


2. There is a colossal amount of information out there - just try a blog search on any topic and you will find what someone posted 10 min. ago up to 10 days ago on that topic!


3. As I read through many of my searches I thought about the counsel of my grandparents generation and even my parents generation - "Don't tell people all your business!" WHEW! Have we moved past this or what? Now there is all but a torrential flood of every thought, feeling, even passing fancy! I think the pendulum has swung far to the other side! (See even I expound too much!)

Which method of finding feeds did you find the easiest?
I looked at many of the blog search tools and those were a little overwhelming. After much time looking through different searches, I have decided to be more judicious in adding blogs and feeds to my Google Reader. If I find a blog I like, I will look for it to appear in other blog rolls. If I see it more than once, then I will consider adding it to my Google Reader. So, easiest method - look at blog rolls of blogs I like.

Which search tool was the easiest for you to use?
Google Blog Search. However, the quality of your search results is directly related to the quality of your search term. And I wonder why my students have a hard time doing quality keyword searches, when I can't seem to do them myself!

Which search tool was more confusing?
Syndic8.com and Technorati (although, once I was able to watch the tutorial in English, it was easier!) I didn't realize that RSS feeds are listed by number - that is how Syndic8.com list them in the search results page. A little to technical for me!

What kind of useful or unusual feeds did you find?
Well I found many that I have added to my Google Reader - most of them on children's book reviews. After I added the must haves: Librarian Philosopher, A Library By Any Other Name, and Library TWEeter, I was thrilled to see that many of the book review journals have RSS - Booklist Online, School Library Journal, and Horn Book. I love reading these journals, but can't afford all of them - so now I can still get a taste of the ones I can't afford! Some of the other blogs I subscribed too are Chicken Spaghetti, A Year of Reading, Children's Literature Book Club, and Jen Robinson's Book Page.
A fun thing I found while browsing through different blogs was the Lookybook website. It allows the viewer to actually flip through the pages of a book. I am going to attempt to add an example on this post!



What other ways did you find to locate news feeds?
I looked at the recommended blogs from my Google Reader. It looks like they find related blogs based on what you have already have in your reader. Some of these were pretty good!

Now that I have all of these, I hope I can keep up with reading them!