LIS 9763

 
As an English Literature graduate student, I would have been inclined to subscribe to the "New" RSS Feeds offered by the University of Oklahoma or to ProQuest RSS feeds because they were pertinent to my research.  As you know, the ProQuest feeds are based on an executed search. Providing the results are applicable, the user can subscribe to an RSS feed that will update their aggregate when new content is added that matches this searching strategy. On a regular basis, undergraduates asked me how to search databases when I am scheduled on the “Research Help” desk at McMaster. In the CIBER Briefing Paper, entitled “Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future,” it is noted that the Google Generation “[still] has a poor understanding of their information needs and thus find it difficult to develop effective search strategies” (12) (See Delicious).  This leads me to wonder if undergraduates are searching efficiently, if their results are applicable, and, as a result, if the RSS feed would be advantageous. Moreover, undergraduate assignments are isolated instances or “one shot deals” unlike upper year classes or graduate studies where you build on assignment or research papers. So, subscribing to a database feed might not be pertinent for undergraduates.  However, I do think that database RSS feeds linked to librarian generated subject guides could be useful to undergraduates, graduate and faculty members.
 
Rob notes in his blog posting for this week “some libraries had several dozen feeds to subscribe to. To be successful with RSS feeds, librarians would need to either limit their feed updates to critical information, or secure some method that prevents their updates from getting lost in the sea of others.” I was contemplating this exact thought when I read Randy Reichhardt’s argument concerning RSS feeds: "RSS...is rapidly moving into our professional and personal lives as a way to keep track of the ever-increasing flow of new information." I am not sure if it possible to "keep track" of the information fountain even using RSS feeds.  As noted in earlier blog posts however, social software allows individuals to assert their autonomy. In the case of RSS feeds individuals have the choice to subscribe to given feeds and to control their information consumption (I know I am indecisive).  
 
The University of Oklahoma, for example, does allow the user to subscribe to the “New Books” feed by subject. This seems like the solution to the problem presented by Rob and myself, but I would argue that it doesn’t. What if the user is in a cross or interdisciplinary field? For example, I am currently working a collection analysis project and I am analyzing the subject area “Disability Studies.” I cannot narrow my analysis to one call number range because this subject area touches on History, English, Medicine and so on. If I was a student in Disability Studies, I would have to subscribe to three or more feeds, and of course I would subscribe to the General Announcements feed as well.  I do think that general announcement feeds, provided by libraries, can be helpful to users. Knowing that Scholar’s Portal is down, for example, can be helpful for both the librarians and the users. The currency of feeds is definitely a positive.
 
Within the CIBER report it is argued that “there is a big difference between ‘being where our users are’ and being ‘USEFUL to our users where they are’” (16). I am inclined to harp on the term “useful.” It is useful to provide users with an array of library related RSS feeds? As I noted earlier feeds provide access to current information, however this information has to be updated in order for it to be current and useful. For example, if the University of Oklahoma provides a “New Books” feed for Science and their budget, meaning they are not purchasing as many resources, is slashed for the year then the feed will be intermittent and the user might lose interest. Also, libraries have to consider the amount of staff time it takes to continuously update information related to the feeds (as noted when we discussed blogs). The personal account feeds offered by Hennepin County Library seem useful however, because users are always interested in their due dates, holds and general account activity. In this case, I see the value. However, Hennepin also offers an array of feeds and again I question the usefulness of subscribing to so many feeds. I can hardly keep up with the fifteen or so that I currently subscribe to! Overall, I do think that RSS feeds and aggregators have certainly made it easier to follow certain forms of information (blogs, news headlines, database updates etc…), but inundating our users with information is not useful nor a productive use of time. Thus, I think librarians have to be selective, by considering the relevance of a given feed, when providing RSS feeds.