New Blog Feed – Now in FeedBurner

I just started running my blog feed through FeedBurner so I can track statistics. Blogger is supposed to redirect my traffic through FeedBurner automatically, but please resubscribe to this feed if you have any trouble. Thanks!

Since I’m on the subject, I should mention that setting up my feed in FeedBurner was quite easy. All I had to do was plug in my blog URL, create an account, and make a few clicks, and now I can track number of subscribers, number of hits, and some other feed information. FeedBurner also provides several options for a “chicklet” (or widget) to place on my blog for users to subscribe. It’s nice when something is so easy!

Tech News: Google – Recommendation Friend or Privacy Foe? Or Both?

Google Reader recently added some updates – most of which I have appreciated so far. One update is that it now makes recommendations based on your current feed subscriptions and your Google web history. Read more about it in this article.

I mostly read library, education, and technology feeds (and combinations of those three subjects). So, Google Reader recommended these to me today.

Clicking on the View All link gives a longer list with number of subscribers to gauge popularity, and – best of all – the number of posts per week. I have to confess that I have unsubscribed to a couple of feeds simply because I couldn’t keep up with the number of posts.

Now, I appreciate the recommendations, but this brings up the privacy question. So, how much does Google know about me…and the scarier part, how much is it sharing about me?

Of course, I also have to confess that I subscribed to several feeds that were recommended because they were from blogs that interested me. Google has lured me in with tantalizing (and scarily spot-on) recommendations. But, is Google evil? How long do I continue to trade privacy for customized services?

Using RSS in Libraries – Catalog Feeds

RSS at UTK Library
http://www.lib.utk.edu/rss/newbks/

I love that UTK (my alma mater) is offering RSS feeds of the new books being added to the catalog. I’m even more excited that the feeds are specific to subjects or particular types of books (children’s literature, music library, etc.).

It’s just a great library application of RSS.

Is anyone using RSS in this manner at their library? Please share!

Education Tips: Using RSS in Education

RSS and Education
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-and-education.htm

15 ways that RSS is being used in educational settings = 15 ideas that may work for your educational institution

How are you using RSS personally? How are you using RSS to educate and inform? Please share!!

Database Tips: EBSCO RSS Feeds

I had every intention of blogging about the news when EBSCO announced that it would allow RSS feeds for its alert services, but, alas, I didn’t. However, I now can attest to the value and ease of this service.

I decided that I wanted to receive alerts when several library and technology journals were issued. Since I have Google Reader as my feed aggregator and I have a MyEBSCOhost account set up already, it made it pretty easy to get this going.

Here are the steps:

1) Log in to Academic Search Premier (for me, this the database that has full-text access to most of the journals I wanted)

2) Click the Publications link

3) Browse for journals

4) Click the desired journal title

5) Click the Journal Alert link

6) Log in to MyEBSCOhost (if you haven’t already)

7) Mark options, but choose “No e-mail (RSS only)”

8) Click “Save”

9) The confirmation screen will provide a URL that can be pasted into any RSS reader

Now I get notified whenever these journals are added to Academic Search Premier. I can read through the titles and sometimes abstracts and decide what to read further. It’s a happy thing!

Just as an extra tip, you can also set up search alerts and be notified when an article matching your search criteria is added. You just have to run an Advanced Search on the topic, then click the Search History/Alerts tab, click “Save Searches / Alerts,” then check that settings you want, click “Save,” and you are good to go!

So, what are some things you’ve saved or would like to save? Do you have some particular searches or journals that yield helpful articles?

Mac Tip: Screensaver Showing New Books

I don’t have a Mac, so I can’t test this (and would be glad if a wonderful Mac person could try it for me!). However, it looks like a great tool for marketing…and it’s just fun.

RSS New Books Screen Saver
http://www.rss4lib.com/2007/05/rss_new_books_screen_saver.html

Now, if someone could just do this for Windows. I wonder if you could download book images from Amazon (or get the images from the books cataloged in LibraryThing if you use that) and then create a slideshow screensaver with all of those images. Hmmm…I’ll have to find time to try this and see if it can be done…

I would personally love to be able to make my desktop image change each morning with a new photo (or book covers would be great, too!). Alas, I have yet to see something that will do this, but I haven’t taken a great deal of time to search for it. Does anyone know how to do this or has anyone heard it can be done?