Feedly

Organization! That is probably one of my favorite words! I love to be organized, and if you are part of my everyday life, you would see that chaos and I do not get a long! Everything has to be in order. Come to my home and you will see labels in the kitchen and my clothes organized by color and style. By the way, I do need more clothes! But, that is another story!

When I was first introduced to Symbaloo, a free social bookmarking service, it was "love at first click!" I could not believe that I no longer had to be like a chicken without a head trying to remember the website I had used the previous day for an online timer that my students loved! Geez! I wasted precious time clicking here, there, and everywhere! Now, thanks to Symbaloo, I have all my favorite websites in one area making me the most efficient librarian in my school! Oh, wait! I am the only librarian in my school!

So, when I learned that you can organize blogs, I was totally in love again!  I was not aware that there are feed readers that allow you to access your favorite blogs. Where have I been? (Eating donuts, probably!)

I dropped the donuts and decided to have my own feed reader! (Not Just any kind of donuts. I am talking about the powdered, cream filled ones.) I was not too sure which one to choose, but I did feel more comfortable choosing one that many, many people already have. According to Vicky Cassidy, author of The 10 Best Feed Reader Apps for RSS, News, and More, Feedly is among the most popular feed readers. It's not that I am a "follower," but it is probably pretty good if a large group of people use it already.  Cassidy used words such as clean, simple, and casual to describe Feedly. So, it has "Rosalia Rohr" written all over!

Creating a free account was very easy.  We all love free. (I wish donuts were free!) I went to feedly.com and it asked me if I wanted to create an account using Facebook or Google. I chose Google, and in less than 3 seconds, I had an account and joined the millions of Feedly users.

Navigating Feedly was pretty easy; I was able to categorize my favorite blogs using folders. It can be organized by topics, it's personalized to your likes, and reflects who you are! Feedly is all about you! I cannot wait to open those folders and start reading!

One thing that caught my attention was the fact that Feedly gives you a chance to learn about topics you probably didn't ever consider reading about nor thought you would love.  Blog writer, Vicky Cassidy, says, "Feedly also curates "starter kits" of content focused around a certain topic, which can be a great way to discover new websites." I gave it a try, and now I have a blog about integrating technology in the classroom patiently waiting for me. Because Feedly allows its users to share on social media, I will share it on Facebook after I finish reading it. Many of my teacher friends will certainly benefit.

There are five blogs on my FAVORITE BLOGS list. Library Stuff (http://www.librarystuff.net/) and School Library Journal (http://www.slj.com/) are great since they both  provide information that can help you be more aware of what is going on in the world of libraries. I know my flaws, and I may be guilty of just focusing on what is going on around my 5 mile radius. Learning important news pertinent to librarians and education is definitely a must for me since I want to improve every day. Library Displays (http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com/) is another blog I plan to check out daily. In all honesty, I am aware of my talents, but creativity is not one God blessed me with. It provides awesome library displays that children would love to see in my library.  It's creator describes it as a blog filled with "creative ideas that promote books from your library collection." Following blogs such as The New York Times book reviews (http://www.nytimes.com/section/books?partner=rss&emc=rss) and Goodreads (Bloghttps://www.goodreads.com/) can certainly keep me up to date with the most popular children's books. It is almost impossible to read every single book that is released, so reading reviews can help me better serve my patrons when it comes to recommending a new release based on their favorite authors or genres.  

There are several feed readers out there, but I preferred Feedly. It does the job, and it does it well. If you want to learn more about the different feed readers out there, I suggest you read Vicky Cassidy's article The 10 Best Feed Reader Apps for RSS, News, and More. You can find it by copying a pasting the following link: https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/

 I have much to read and much to share. With knowledge comes responsibility, and all I learn through my blogs, I promise to do my best and share with colleagues. But I also like to have fun! Tumblr is a great site that is similar to Facebook but allows you to have more privacy. You create your own username without having to use your real name. On the very top of your Tumblr, there are 7 things you can choose from: text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio, or video. When you are ready to share, click on one, and start sharing away! To learn a little more about my craziness, check out my Tubmblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/blessedlibrariansmiles

Source:

Cassidy, V. (2015, September 22). The 10 Best Feed Reader Apps for RSS, News, and More. Retrieved October 06, 2016, from https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/