Apparently, Walt Crawford, wrote an article in the February issue of Cites and Insights that tromps on the idea that RSS feeds from ILS vendors is a valid service. In return, Walt is tromped by Jenni at The Shifted Librarian. She points out, and rightly so, that denouncing RSS because it is used by too few patrons, is not a reason for the service to not be offered. Jenni describes many library programs that are offered to a very small number of our consituants. I have to agree with Jenni on this and not just because I am addicted to my feeds. RSS will be, and is, the new way that information is distributed. Are libraries going to wait around to be the very last institutions that implement something everyone else is using? While still in the early stages, RSS stands to be the thing that will change the way people interface with not only information, but the internet in general.
For more reading on this, you can go to the Free Range Librarian post on this discussion as well. I am just waiting for Walt to reply to these responses to his opinions on RSS. It should be interesting.
–Jane, skips off to the desk