Getting Information to Come to You Penny Schenk, Bodleian Law Library Jane Rawson, Vere Harmsworth Library

Session structure Information overload? Ways of keeping up to date Database alerts Journal alerts Websites and blogs Practical exercises

Information overload? Information sources are increasingly varied… …a n d v a s t

Ways of keeping up to date RSS feeds alerts

RSS feeds RSS = Really Simple Syndication Subscribe to updates from a variety of electronic resources –Keep up to date –Don’t miss out –Save time

RSS feed readers Organise feeds using folders and tags Share single items, entire feeds or bundles of feeds

Managing information Publication type Duplicates Work time Period of interest

Case study 1: Ms All Rounder My DPhil topic is really interdisciplinary. I need to keep up to date with several topics, but I don’t want the hassle of checking databases all the time. Problem:

Case study 1: Ms All Rounder Solution: database alerting services –Includes RSS feeds, alerts and saved searches –Some databases require you to create a free account to access these services

Case study 1: Ms All Rounder 1.Create alerts to notify you of new material From e-journals databases such as Business Source Complete and ProQuest

Case study 1: Ms All Rounder 2. Create alerts to notify you when a specific article is cited From abstracting and indexing databases such as Web of Science and Scopus Whittington, R. (1996) ‘Strategy as practice’ Long Range Planning, 29(5), pp

Case study 1: Ms All Rounder

Case study 2 - Dr Organization I need to keep up to date with key journals in – but I haven’t got time to keep browsing in the library or on websites!

Solution: Table of Contents alerts Listings of tables of contents in journals as they are published. Alerts via or RSS Two main sources: –ZETOC alerts –Journal publishers

ZETOC Access to the British Library’s electronic table of contents of around 20,000 journals and 16,000 conference proceedings published each year. Offers and RSS alerting service as well as search. Can set up search alerts for title keywords or authors (not RSS)

Publishers’ websites Access via OU E-journals/OxLIP+ Dependent on and different for each publisher platform – look for ‘my alerts’ or the RSS symbol May need to sign up even for RSS

Case Study 3 – Professor Asset I need to keep up to date with the academic community – things move so fast!

Solution: Get other people to do the work for you! Websites, blogs, Twitter, social bookmarking sites All offer RSS feeds and some alerts People-driven: what other people are talking about/recommending More up-to-the minute than other methods as no publication schedule Follow links!

Websites and Blogs Use RSS! Websites/blogs of major organisations, prominent researchers. Specialised blog search engines: –Technorati ( –Google Blog Search ( –Intute ( and filter by ‘blogs’) Search blogs and individual posts Subscribe to searches via and RSS

Twitter RSS reader of the future? (But not full text, easier to miss things, can’t save etc) ‘Network of experts’ – follow people you trust and people they trust, RTing, linking Twitter ‘directories’ and lists for experts – Search & hashtags for subjects and conferences Incredibly up-to-the-minute!

Social bookmarking Online lists of bookmarks/favourites in chronological order. Save individual articles as well as whole sites. Examples: delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg RSS feeds for users and for tags Subscribe to new links from trusted users or specific tags/tag combinations

Have a go! Set up an RSS reader and find and add some feeds Run some searches and subscribe to alerts by or RSS Sign up for ZETOC Any questions, just ask!