RSS Tim Staniland Assistant Librarian Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Keeping clinicians up to date. What are RSS feeds? How do I read them? Where can I find RSS feeds? What do they look like? Adding a feed to your chosen reader. My Library – National Library for Health. TDNet! Feeds that may interest you.

If a clinician read one article a day, they would be 55 centuries behind after 1 year. Sackett DL, Haynes RB, Guyatt GH, et al. Clinical epidemiology: a basic science for clinical medicine. 2 nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1991

A few ways to help clinicians keep up to date ToCs alerts Produce bulletins for specialities Perform literature searches Circulate new book lists specialist groups with latest updates NLH specialist libraries Visit specialist websites regularly

Problems – busy clinicians are often swamped by s, and may delete without reading. Bulletins – labour intensive; rely on the librarian to ‘choose’ relevant material. Lit searches – would be very labour intensive if they were done for everybody. New book lists – not very current by their very nature. NLH specialist libraries – rely on clinicians knowing what is available and where to find it. Visiting the same websites to see if there is anything new or updated is time and labour intensive.

Solution? What if you could have the latest articles in your interest area delivered to your desktop as soon as it is made available? RSS feeds could provide the answer!

What are RSS feeds? RSS - Really Simple Syndication. OR Rich Site Summary OR RDF (Resource Description Framework) Site Summary You may see ATOM feed – treat as the same as RSS RSS feeds are an XML-based (extensible markup language) format for sharing and distributing web content.

BMJ

How do you receive RSS feeds? An RSS reader (sometimes called a newsreader or news aggregator), allows you to receive and view feeds from various sources in a single interface. The reader checks the feeds regularly and displays any updated content it finds. Readers can be web based eg Google reader, NLH. Readers can be a piece of software on your desktop eg SharpReader.

Which reader to use? The choice of reader is a personal one. Pros and cons to each approach. Web based readers have the advantage of being accessible from any internet enabled PC. Desktop feed readers are often less obtrusive and can offer increased functionality.

NLH My Library Pros My library – easy to set up feeds My library – easy to set up feeds Athens authenticated – seamless (!) access Athens authenticated – seamless (!) access Single interface Single interfaceCons Limited functionality Limited functionality 4 items by default 4 items by default Requires another click to see all items from a feed Requires another click to see all items from a feed

Try Wiikipedia or Google when looking for a feed reader.Akregator AOL Explorer Avant Browser Blam!BlogBridgeBottomFeeder Claws Mail CoolirisFeedBeastFeedDemonFeedGhostFeedreaderFeedviewFlock FreeRange WebReader GnusHubdog IBM Lotus Notes Internet Explorer K-MeleonLifereaMailMaxthonmDigger Mercury Messenger Microsoft Office Outlook Mindity Mozilla Thunderbird NetNewsWire Netscape Browser Netscape Navigator 9 NewsAccessNewsBreakNewsbeuterNewsFireNewsFoxOmeaOmniWeb Opera Mail Pegasus Mail RSS Bandit RSSOwlSafariSageSeaMonkeyShiiraSleipnirSnarfer The Bat! ThinfeederVienna Windows Live Mail Windows Mail Zimbra

Finding a feed What to look for:

Where to find a feed TDNet NLH feed directory Journal homepage Keep your eyes peeled!

NLH My Library Adding a feed k/mylibrary/ k/mylibrary/ BMJ JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association

Google reader adding a feed

TDNet Your one-stop shop for locating health related RSS feeds. Add them to My Library quickly and easily. They do have drawbacks however – but I am assured that these issues will be addressed in time. TDNet

Feeds that may be of interest to you Information Technology & Libraries Information on the Internet Computers in Libraries NHS Articles from Microsoft Check TDNet for ‘libraries’ or ‘information’ Go to the hosting site and see if they provide a feed ie Ebsco, Proquest. Go to the hosting site and see if they provide a feed ie Ebsco, Proquest.

Setting up a current awareness service using RSS feeds Information Services INSIDE (Integrating News Sources In Desktop Environments) is a project using RSS and Atom feeds to deliver current awareness information into the intranet sites which users already visit. Information Services INSIDE (Integrating News Sources In Desktop Environments) is a project using RSS and Atom feeds to deliver current awareness information into the intranet sites which users already visit.

Questions?