Hail!

Response to Initial Assignment

There are probably dozens of ways RSS feeds could be useful in a library. 

A couple for me personally might be:

• Updates on news, events and resources relevant to my work
• Staying informed about what colleagues are writing and thinking about: networking

A lot of smart librarians are writing blogs these days, discussing interesting and important topics, so subscribing to some good feeds can be a great way to keep up with what's going on, as well as to participate in the conversations.

And for patrons:

• General notices of new arrivals of books, journals, and other resources
• Personal notification about materials they're interested in (they could set up feeds in PubMed or through another search application)
• News of events at the library

RSS feeds could be assigned to all sorts of aspects of the library's work, allowing patrons to follow things they're interested in. Announcements of lectures, classes, even a highlighted 'resource (or tip) of the week' could be distributed through RSS feeds.