Library Stuff

Rita Vine (a colleague, we’ve met a few times, lovely woman) has written an article [PDF] on keeping current. She mentions RSS, plus goals for current awareness, which is an important part of keeping current which I don’t mention as often as I should. Why do we keep current? What’s in it for me? For our patrons/clients? Thoughts to ponder…

Tara at Research Buzz mentions a few more universities and libraries that are trying out RSS.

UC Berkeley, the University of Arizona, and The Minnesota Public Library. Those Minnesotans really have their RSS and blogging shoes on. Good for them.

Nat was selected to audition for Jeopardy!! Make us proud!!!

Am I one of the lucky few who is getting a shot to sign up for Gmail after logging into Blogger? Now, I used to be a Blogger Pro user (and still use it), which may be why I saw the invitation (they say “active” member, but I’m not sure what that means). Wow! A sweatshirt, a choice to use RSS instead of Atom, all the other Blogger Pro features, plus a chance to try out Gmail. Not bad for $30.

So, I signed up for an account, but have no time to use it now, but I’ll try to test it out at some point. BTW, my e-mail address is stevenmcohen [at] gmail.com

Update – OK, I’m not the only lucky one.

As I gear up my firm for possible weblog blitz (I still have to wrote up my proposals for the BMOCs), I smiled as I read this from Jerry Lawson:

“I believe this method of marketing has fantastic potential. The most promising route to success is likely to be ‘narrowcasting,’ or tightly focused marketing. Instead of having a ‘products liability’ blog, focus on some particular aspect of products liability and try to position you (or your firm) as the top lawyer (or the top law firm) in the country for that particular type of case. Even if you don’t get many clients directly from your blog, you may find that you come to be considered an expert by other lawyers or those in a position to refer cases to you. Because it’s so cheap, you can set up different blogs for different topics. Link to each from your law firm’s main web site. The biggest downside is that to be effective requires a big time investment. The cash outlay is insignificant, but it’s labor intensive to be highly successful”

I’m not kidding, but this is exactly what my main point was going to be for setting up a weblog in my law firm. It’s all about marketing. We all like to see our name out there, but we need need to do it the right way. It’s not just about asking people to link to you. It’s also about content. Put up fresh content, and you will be noticed. My weblog is a perfect example.

And, thanks Jerry for the heads up on the marketing tips. Keep ‘em coming (link via Topix)