I'm in a fortunate position here at METRO in that I get the chance
to talk with a lot of librarians working in very different
institutions. We serve libraries and librarians in academic, public,
and special libraries in New York City -- about 250 members
representing over 1000 branches. And even though each library has its
own challenges, there are common issues that might be well-served by a
tool that helps librarians keep tabs on what other libraries are
working on.
Until the technology ramps up to make it possible to dump our collective experiences and areas of expertise into a searchable database, we're left rely on conversations with each other and reading published news and information about the work we do.
Enter the METRO portal. Using the popular RSS feed reader, Netvibes, I created a universe as an at-a-glance resource for keeping track of what libraries and librarians in New York City are thinking about, doing, and thinking about doing. The universe aggregates feeds from various new sources, blogs, and websites to provide a convenient way to keep track of hundreds of conversational threads. The portal features tabs with feeds from libraries, librarians, library organizations and groups, and related blogs.
As a universe-in-progress, the METRO portal will continue to evolve as we get feedback from users and add more content. Please comment here or email me to have additional sources added.
This is a great idea and a real service to the library community in the NYC area.
Posted by: Stephen Francoeur | June 26, 2009 at 10:00 PM