With everything else that’s been going on, I didn’t have a chance last week to announce that the RSS feeds for the MLS web site are finally up and running! They’re not dynamic, but you can syndicate every category/subject on our site. On the home page, you’ll find a feed for the last 20 items added to the site, plus a link to a list of all of our feeds.

Alternatively, if you’re browsing through a subject, there is an XML button at the bottom of every page just for that subject. For example, if you want to track what we’re highlighting about Video Games and Libraries (including our grant), you can view everything related to that subject, and at the bottom of the page is a link to the feed for what we’re posting to it.

I’ve tested the feed in a couple of different aggregators without any problems, so please let me know if you encounter any issues with them. Thanks!

I’m still pulling together an announcement so I don’t have a detailed write-up yet, but I wanted to note that I’m putting together the-most-incredible-offer-ever for audio ebooks for Illinois libraries (not just MLS libraries). It’s one of the other Really Big Projects I’m working on right now.

If you’re thinking about signing a contract for digital audiobooks, DON’T commit to anything until you hear this offer. If you’re dying for more info, call or email me at MLS, but I should have some info up here soon. I promise you won’t find a better deal anywhere else!

Yesterday, Larry Sloma, who (along with Troy Swanson) helped Moraine Valley Community College get all bloggy and RSSified, sent me an email noting that he’s running a pilot project on his new library’s web site. Check out the Highland Park Public Library’s blog, which you can now have read to you.

“Inspired by Gary Price's recent post about Speakwire, we thought we'd try to add a voice to our pilot blog. Works like a charm!

Look for the button labeled ‘Want this blog to read to you?’ near the bottom of the right hand column at http://lishost.org/~hpplblog/.”

That wasn’t enough for Larry, though. Today, I got an email from Troy, saying that Larry had also helped MVCC set this up for their blogs, too. Check out the “Click to Listen” link on the right-hand side of their Library News blog!

Here’s the weird, spooky, serendipitous part. I’m reading my work email tonight (yeah, I’m that overwhelmed at work that I’m doing email from home these days), when the following message from David Mattison appears on the WEB4LIB mailing list:

“I spotted a Google Adsense ad on my blog for a new service called Talkr.com (http://www.talkr.com) that offers conversion of text-only blogs into podcasts. I haven't tried it, but it sounds like (pardon the pun) there's a library application in there somewhere. The company has a revenue sharing program if they select your blog as one of their podcasts. Jenny Levine's The Shifted Librarian blog is one of the blogs already available as a podcast.”

That’s news to me! But, I guess if you’d rather listen to my posts than read them, here’s your chance.