Beyond RSS: Staying Informed & Organized, Today & Tomorrow

Conference Year

Online Northwest 2011

Session

4

Type

Breakout Session

Presenters

• Rachel Bridgewater, Reed College
• Anne­-Marie Deitering, Oregon State University

Abstract

When Bloglines closed up shop at the end of September, the chatter among librarians ranged from “OMG what will I do now?” to “How do I get all of that stuff I’ve saved out” to “Huh, you know, I don’t really use it like I used to any more.” In this presentation, we will take a look at all of these reactions, with a particular focus on the last one. We will consider the idea that in our information abundant world, managing these streams of information is potentially more important than searching for sources when we have a problem to solve. RSS used to be a key part of that, and for many of us it still is. But for some, the feed reader is no longer sufficient. As mobile computing becomes as commonplace as desktop computing ­ whether in the form of smartphones or iPads or whatever comes next ­ we want ready access to those streams of information, our personal digital libraries, from wherever we are. We will examine the state­-of-­the-­art in information management tools, talk about what today’s early adopters want from these tools, and discuss any implications these tools might have for libraries and librarians.