RSS:Practical Uses for Professional, Personal and Patron Information Brooklyn Public Library Professional Development Day January 12, 2009 Kathryn Shaughnessy, MA, MLS Assistant Professor Instructional Services Librarian Senior Fellow, Center for Teaching and Learning

RSS: History & Overview RSS is… A growing method of distributing web-based information –RDF Site summary –Rich Site Summary –Really Simple Syndication –Really Simple Subscription

RSS: History & Overview RSS timeline… : scriptingNews format, designed by Dave Winer at UserLand (1997); subsequently, Winer & developers (including Dan Libby) at NetScape continue to work on RDF and xml scripts to offer standard RSS 0.91 formatscriptingNews 2000: RSS 1.0 format is developed by Rael Dornfest at O’Reilly independently March 2002: “MetaWeblog API merges RSS 0.92 with XML-RPC to provide a powerful blogging API. “ September 2002: Winer Develops RSS 2.0, MetaWeblog updates July 2003: RSS 2.0 spec, Winer “released through Harvard under a Creative Commons license “ August 2004: “iPodders” search for a way to retrieve old blogs and audiofiles – develop RSS (Winer) and podcast software (Curry) – podcasting begins July 2005: iTunes supports/distributes podcasts, get 1 million subscribers in first 2 days; rises to 8,000 podcasts, 6 million listeners in one month Hobson and Holtz Report, 8/4/ ) RSS 2.0 at Harvard Law website,

RSS: History & Overview RSS evolution … News scripting – code to keep updates fresh Distributing Blogs & Podcasts Personal / information gathering Organizational information distribution (wikis & microblogging) Education & Distributed Learning

RSS: History & Overview Why do I libraries need to know about it ? Student ICT Literacy: requires critical thinking skills to perform the kinds of information management and research tasks necessary for academic success Patron ICT Literacy: RSS marks the major difference between old “static” web content and dynamic web resources Getting the word out: Low-cost distribution mechanism of information about library resources (ex; News, calendar, new books list, wiki updates, database/catalog searches, Journal TOCs) Always fresh: Facilitating up-to-date information/ research and interactive participation Personal/Professional growth: Life-long learning!

Current Uses of RSS brooklynpubliclibrary.org

Current Uses of RSS brooklynpubliclibrary.org feeds displayed in iGoogle

Current Uses of RSS Resources Radio news and lectures (NPR)NPR

Current Uses of RSS Resources –Print News & Podcast Syndication NYT

Current Uses of RSS Resources Academic-quality lectures (Princeton University Channel)Princeton

Current Uses of RSS Resources Journal Table of ContentsNature

Current Uses of RSS Resources –Library News

Current Uses of RSS Resources –Collection /Departmental News -- Library of Congress

Current Uses of RSS Resources Funding Opportunities

Current Uses of RSS Resources –Scholarly Communication – IL Tag from CiteULike

Current Uses of RSS Resources Serendipitous discovery through del.icio.us

Current Uses of RSS Resources Job / Internship feeds

Current Uses of RSS Resources Monster Job Search feed

Current Uses of RSS Resources Database Searches

Practical issues for using RSS Because wiks, podcasts & blogs are “digi-born”, one of the the best ways to keep track of these resources is by using RSS feeds to monitor activity Utilizing RSS requires choosing an RSS reader –free or fee-based –Desktop or web-based inputting RSS feeds Investment of time: –to learn the aggregator –to build up *your* collection of sites/feeds –to weed out less-helpful sites over time

Choosing an RRS Reader Practical Questions about Choosing an RSS reader RefWorks built-in RSS aggregator, Search  RSS feed MyYahoo Browser-based accounts iGoogle & Google Reader – personalized Google features Browsers: FireFox, new MSN browser Newsgator ( Bloglines ( Directory of readers is available through dmoz:

Choosing an RRS Reader Practical Questions about using RSS for podcasts:

Choosing an RRS Reader brooklynpubliclibrary.org feeds displayed in iGoogle

Choosing an RRS Reader GoogleReader

Choosing an RRS Reader Newsgator allows you to download the podcast in their compatible “FeedStation player” or you can right-click and “save-as” Add to my podcasts Add feeds

Finding RSS Resources –RSS Directories –List-servs –Blogs and your favorite websites –Suggestions from others Other faculty Library subject experts/ co-workers Patron’s with needs or expertise Collaborate in a wikiwiki

What if the resource I want doesn’t have RSS?

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VOILA…RSS-ified!

More resources on RSS LibGuide with RSS examples: Resources discussed in this presentation: Wiki covering Web2.0 resources for librarians and faculty Video on using iGoogle:

Practical RSS Thank you for your time! Kathryn Shaughnessy Instructional Services Librarian