Blogging, Reading Blogs, and More!

In our day and age there is so much information that we have the access to online, with more being added everyday. It can be very difficult for us to keep up with the overwhelming amount of information and resources that are out there. A tool that I have recently discovered to help with this overwhelming amount of information is an RSS reader.

Even with RSS readers there are many different options available. After referring to an article written by Vicky Cassidy regarding the best feed readers, link here, I decided to use and RSS reader called Feedly. One reason why I chose this reader over the other ones is how the site was organized.
When you open the reader the sidebar on the left has the categories you have selected, with the blogs you have subscribed to underneath. Each blog entry that you are viewing, for the day, is displayed with a large block picture, with a short blog description to the right of the picture.

Another reason why I chose to use this blog reader is that you have the ability to choose a category that you are interested in, then choose the blogs from there to follow. This is very helpful if you are new to using this type of service and you are not sure what to follow. Lastly, I chose this reader because the user dashboard is clean and simple. Some of the other services seemed cluttered to me and when using things like this a cluttered dashboard can be confusing and discouraging. 

After creating my account on Feedly I browsed through the education, technology and library categories to find blogs to follow. Below are links to each of the blogs that I chose, a few from each category, and a short description of what is posted on each.

The first blog that I chose to follow is sort of, well, interesting. This blog, Awful Library Books, is a site where librarians can post books that are, well, awful, books that they are weeding. After a book is posted the owners of the blog comment. This site, while unconventional, can be helpful when wondering whether or not to weed a book.

Another blog that I chose to follow was Library Stuff, which posts resources that will assist with collection development, professional development, as well as other resources that will be helpful for librarians and educators. Each post is short, and includes just the right amount of information. Recent topics include resources on ProQuest, Gale, and Microsoft.

Lastly, the third blog I chose to follow on Feedly was LISNews. This blog posts news related to all types of libraries. This site pulls in information from different libraries, different news groups, and other related sources, putting good resources and stories in one place. Some of the stories include library openings, online security, eBooks, and more.

One fun blog that I followed on Feedly was Unshelved. This blog creates cute comics that are about libraries and librarians. Sometimes it is fun to take a step back and laugh. Here is an example of one of their cartoons.

Something else that is related to blogging is Tumblr. This blog site has been growing in popularity in the past few years, with many users being teenagers. On this site you can have your own blog and you can easily view other people's blogs. This site, however, is not set up like a normal blog or blog reader site. The format of this is very similar to Twitter, with blogs and people that you follow feeding to your personal dashboard. This is a type of social media and blogging that I need to look more into and get more practice with. Tumblr could be a very useful tool for teachers and librarians. There are many other educators on this site and they are sharing wonderful ideas everyday.

This display uses Blippar to create and interactive
display with augmented reality.

When deciding who to follow when creating my Tumblr account I searched "Library Displays" and I found a few interesting libraries that had some great ideas. One librarian that I chose to follow was from the Seller's Library in the Teen section. They post great library display ideas that will pull in teen patrons with things that they are interested in.

Another library that I followed was the Medford Library Teen Tumblr page. They create interactive displays as well. One that I saved and am going to use in my library next year is their post about March Madness. This is a great idea that I think will get my patrons interested in reading some new things.

Want to follow me on Tumblr? Here is the link to my account!


Blog readers and blogs can have very impactful uses in the classroom and in the library. Knowing about the blog reader services and sites like Tumblr can be very helpful to librarians and teachers. This information can help make sure that you keep up with everything you are interested in!

Happy Learning Everyone!

Naomi Emory