In my experience, repeated linking has opened a whole new world of  interesting information and bloggers;  blogs I never would have discovered without that link. After checking out these new blogs, I usually add them to my RSS feed.  It is only a hunch, but I am not sure the daily ramblings of someone’s online blog diary would generate the same sense of community. I think a blog needs a real sense of purpose.

But, it is ultimately the author that takes responsiblity for the blog. If you read the Word Press’ terms of service, for example,you will see  the policy is quite long, but there is a key point, “you are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content.”  It might seem hard to defend a blog from malicious postings, but many of these blog forums do offer tools and methods for stopping  malicious and irresponsible publishing. The blog author needs to make every effort to preserve the integrity of his or her blog. Blog platform hosts offer tools that range from  ignoring the post, offering a rationale reply, pre-approving the posts,and reporting to the administrators of the blog platform. Publishing a blog follows the old adage, “the buck stops here.”

• Professional development (information coming in)–As a TL you can receive RSS feeds on book reviews, the experiences of colleagues, district and regional announcements, etc.
• Student research tool (information coming in)–A TL could use RSS feeds from  selected sites for students to use in their research projects. The need to search for sites  and continually  checking for new information would be eliminated by using a RSS feed.
• SLMC book reviews (incoming and outgoing)–Again, depending on the configuration,  the TL and students can track book reviews and responses through the use of RSS feeds.
• SLMC announcements and activities (outgoing information)–A TL could configure the SLMC’s blog or wiki to allow stakeholders to receive RSS feeds about SLMC activities and information.

Not only does the RSS feed serves as an alert to newly available information, but it also  serves as a filter. (The RSS feed user has to actively select the feed to receive the information).  Subscribers are more likely to pay attention to the information, less likely to be overwhelmed with vast quantities of information on the internet, and save time in the process. RSS feeds are definitely an useful tool for school libraries.