Oh No! No More Google Reader! Now What?

by

A few weeks ago Google announced that it was going to end the life Google Reader. Immediately there were cries from far and wide about the loss of a favorite tool of many. Watch the Google Hangout video with YALSA bloggers Wendy Stephens, Erin Daly, and me, Linda Braun, which focuses on options for those looking for a Google Reader replacement.

We’d love to know what readers are using to keep up with news, information, and so on. Let us know in the comments.

Resources discussed in the video:
Read More →

Keeping in Touch Virtually

by

I remember the day my husband came home and told me we had received orders from the Navy and we were moving to Okinawa. My immediate thought was not one of adventure or exotic travel, but “Aw, man. I’ll never get a job there!”

Okinawa, part of the Ryukyu Islands

The job prospects were slim. Though there are libraries on each of the bases, the jobs most available are Library Technician positions. Unfortunately, there is a hiring freeze for GS jobs preventing qualified applicants from stepping into full librarian positions. What was I to do until I got a job? How could I keep my newly minted librarian skills fresh? How could I do all this in a foreign country so far away from the library community I knew and respected? Enter Internet. Read More →

App of the Week – Pulse

by

Welcome to YALSA”s new weekly feature App of the Week. Every Wednesday a YALSA blogger will review an app of interest to librarians and/or the teens with whom they work. If you have an idea for an app that should be reviewed, feel free to send it to YALSA’s Blog Manager, mk Eagle.

Name: Pulse
Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android
Cost: iPhone – 99’¢, iPad/Android – $1.99

Pulse is a news reader for the iPad and smartphones that turns browsing and reading feeds into a visual experience. Read More →

RSS Feeds

by

Posted by Linda W. Braun

If you are a regular reader of this blog you might want to use the RSS feeds to keep up with new posts and comments. If you haven’t used RSS feeds before this is a perfect opportunity to get started with them. You could find that feeds help you keep up with what’s happening on topics in which you are interested. I subscribe to lots of technology and library feeds and through them I quickly and easily find out about new and interesting developments in those fields.

Library websites incorporate RSS feeds so users get information about what’s happening in the library pushed to them. Database vendors are beginning to integrate RSS. With RSS enabled databases, researchers get notified when new information is added to the database on a specific research topic.

To subscribe to feeds you need a feed reader – you can use something that’s web-based or a special piece of software. Find out more about RSS and how you can use it read Will Richardson’s RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators.