I can’t remember when I first started using RSS feeds, probably in 2007 when I started my children’s literature blog and needed to gather material. I use Google Reader and organise the feeds into subject groupings, the two main ones being Books and Libraries. For Libraries I mainly follow the CILIP Members Blog Landscape, scanning the titles for anything that sounds interesting and making judicious use of the “Mark all as read” button for the rest. It was always a problem keeping up, but now that I’ve added the feed for all the cpd23 blogs things are getting a little out of hand!
It’s a little easier with an iPad. I can scan a few blogs every evening if I wish, often while doing something else. First I used the mobile web version, then a specific app, MobileRSS. This was great, until a couple of upgrades ago it became a bit unstable, refusing to load some posts and crashing in the middle of others. I went back to the web for a while, and then cpd23 came to the rescue.
On Three Week Loan’s blog I found a recommendation for Mr. Reader. Now this goes against the grain – it cost £2.49! Not a lot of money but, as a principle you understand, I prefer free apps. However, I bit the bullet and find it similar to MobileRSS but more customisable and (so far anyway) more stable. So a win for cpd23!
To go back to the problem of keeping up with all the cpd23 blogs – I can’t. I’ve created my only little subset feed consisting of people I know, such as the Victorian Librarian and Airs and Graces, people who have been kind enough to leave me comments and people whose posts have specifically caught my eye. These are already changing as I weed out those who haven’t posted since Thing 1 and add new blogs of interest: I’m trying to read only posts which are at the same stage as I am. I know that means I will miss some really good stuff but, well, life’s too short.
Adventures of a Retired Librarian 