Yahoo pipes

I would like to be able to combine more than one feed option through Yahoo pipes. I have set up one pipe to search flickr for images of work, and it has a couple of filters. You can look at it here.

I think I will have to do a bit more 'messing around with pipes" to really see what they can do. They would be option for bringing together information.

RSS

Really, REALLY BIG RSS feed button
Originally uploaded by photopia / HiMY SYeD

I really like RSS

I have been using it for a while. I like that it makes keeping up to date with things easier. I am a scanner rather than a reader of RSS. At first I over subscribed. Since then I have cut back in a few areas and increased in others. I try and spend no more than 15 minutes a day on rss. This means I miss a lot but what I come across is more than I would have read by other means. It has given me some really useful areas to follow up for my work.

I have not really explored many personal interests in rss.

I really like rss for the information I would never have found through other means but which has changed how I do my job.

I like the Sutherland Public Library blog - it compliments their website. There is also an interesting Dutch public library blog - even thougth I don't read Dutch am still getting pointed to some great information.

Libraries can make information available via rss - image if someone could subscribe to an events rss, or a specific subject from the catalogue rss (to keep track of new items or areas of research interest)...

Image from flickr - sea lions on Kangaroo Island

199101 062 Kangaroo Island
Originally uploaded by williewonker

It is so much fun browsing through Flickr and seeing what people have shared. This is just one of many impressive images. I like the ability to blog about the image from within Flickr.

Leaves

Leaves
Originally uploaded by stoneseer

This is one of the images I have uploaded to Flickr. It is taken out the front of the building in the rain Depite using the slnsw2008 tag it is not clustering this with the 'morning light' image. I used the option of uploading this blog post via Flickr.

I have now uploaded another image so that I have five images in my Flickr account as this seems to have been the problem.

Library of Congress and flickr

The Library of Congress has just announced (and they copied my previous blog post name) a project called The commons. This makes some of their images available on Flickr and available for tagging.

My friend Flickr

I like the range of photographs which are on display about the place we work in. It is interesting to see the locations people have taken photographs (and for some I really hope they were not using flash photography), and the events they have been taken at (the poetry slam featured). It shows the community deciding on our public image. Perhaps we could assist in how our image is depicted...

There are some great options for what you can see. I tried looking for "Black Watch" to see if anything about this specific Sydney Festival event was featured (it wasn't) but found that a few people had uploaded images of black watch wool for socks as well as images of the battalion from Scotland, the regiment from Canada, bagpipers and so on. There are some really talented photographers sharing their works (and a few who should have thought a little longer before hitting the upload button).

The 365 days library project is an interesting one to see a range of libraries over lots of days, Utah State Library has their own group, UK libraries seem to be documenting change as well as heritage buildings, and African community libraries shows how crucial libraries are. There are an amazing number of library groups. Our southern neighbours have a group.

Looking at Flickr can be a bit of time sink as images such as beware the book and Mosman Library compete for attention.

I will have to think about the image I will use from Flickr, so that will be a later post.

Technorati and library blogs

I thought I would see what national libraries are blogging about. I found one about the National Library of Belarus, but was held back by my knowledge of Russian. Prague's proposed new national library has been getting coverage in lots of blogs. Here is one example of this. There are many other examples of posts about national libraries, but with a fairly small number of blogs by National Libraries. There is a really interesting library technology blog from the National Library of New Zealand

Hiding in the National Library blogs was one of fan fiction about West Wing.

I also had a look at state library options. Not just our state library, but other state libraries in other places as well. There has been a series of posts about visits to the Bavarian State Library, references to a report commissioned by the Indiana State Library about the value of libraries, and lots more. You can even set up a technorati search as an rss feed, but I will leave that until next week. Blog specifically by state libraries include one by Connecticut, Washington (including a meebo link), South Carolina (for IT matters), Oregon and Iowa.

I was not specifically looking for Australian examples but SLV does have one about their summer reading program.

I liked the way each library was using its blog for its own reasons. I really like the State Library of Washington blog and the National Library of New Zealand blog about technology..

I will do a search later for public library blogs - but that is my 15 minutes for today (and yesterday).

Starting out

I was pleased to find (with some fiddling around) that I could change the font. It is the simple things which make life fun!

I really like the Machine is us/ing us video (with the sound low or off) as it is like an artwork, but it is also a great way of telling a story. I think we can use this kind of creative story telling more in our work. Drawing stories together to have a greater meaning than they do in separate ways. It would allow us different ways of engaging with clients and the collections.

Finding the time for the learning has been challenging - but there are always ways of finding 15 minutes.