Well, yes. I provide them on my blog(s), personal and work-related, and I use >500 of them to keep up with what others are saying.

Woof! over 500? Wow.

I find that RSS can be wonderful and terrible at the same time. It's really the only way to manage if you want to keep up with current things but it can easily lead to information addiction. My count is relatively small, only 92, but I don't just follow the latest library news, I have tech and design blogs, webcomics, and even recipes pumped straight into my reader. Then again, anytime I notice my feeds getting up near the 120's I go on a weeding project so I don't get completely overwhelmed.

I'm not sure about exact numbers of patrons that are using RSS but it's a good idea offer it and now even databases offer RSS feed creation for searches and you can make nearly any webpage into a feed if you want to. It's useful technology that doesn't get enough love. (Not sure about #3 though, I usually just blog hop and subscribe to what catches my eye.)

As for #4... you'd be surprised. I get the feeling that though RSS is so prevalent on news sites and blogs that a lot of people still don't really understand it or use it. Again, the potential for getting hooked is very high but if you set guidelines and rules for yourself then it's well worth the effort.

Hi Kelley -- thanks for the thoughtful response. You not only answered my questions but also anticipated the unasked one, as in: "how easy is it to get hooked?" Your guidelines/rules' setting makes a lot of sense!

Over 500, even 92, wow!

I think there is an initial barrier in setting up RSS feeds, even though it is quite easy to those who are already set up. It is like cell phones 10/15 years ago -- you don't feel you miss anything if you don't have it; once you have it, you can't function without it.

#2 I work in a research lab, and in the last two years I have interviewed more than 30 mid-career or senior level researchers and engineers on their information needs and habits. One of the questions is "Do you use/read any RSS feed?" The answers were overwhelmingly "no". As we talked more, some of them indicated that they read certain web pages if the Library or others have set up as updates.

Hello. I use RSS feeds for both personal and professional growth.
I currently use My Yahoo and have organized my RSS feeds by setting up tabs for each category. This allows me to choose which feeds I want to review without having to do through all of them!

I have also included relevant RSS feeds on several of my research guides. There are many RSS feeds that could be very helfpul to students who are gathering research materials for assignments. Unfortunately, I don't really have a sense of how well these feeds are being used by our students.