1. Are You Hungry Yet? RSS Feeds and the New Ways we Collect Information
Sarah Burns Feyl, Assistant University Librarian
Pace University Faculty Institute, May 2008

2. Our goals
Become familiar with RSS feeds – what are they, why are they helpful
Learn about web sites and tools for locating interesting blogs / feeds
Know how to create an account in Google Reader and subscribe to some feeds
Know how to create an Alert from a library article database

3. What is RSS?
RSS is “a family of XML file formats for web syndication used by websites and weblogs.”
Rich Site Summary
RDF Site Summary
Really Simple Syndication
RSS Feeds are like transmitters that enable a website to send out a signal when there is new content.
That signal can be harnessed by an RSS feed aggregator or reader
Source:

4. RSS: Really Simple Syndication
Papers pick up ‘feed’ off the wire
Story is sent to “the wire”
Story is written
Story appears here

5. RSS Syndication Article or “post” is written (usually on a blog)
“Feed” is available on the web
You use feed reader to subscribe to the feed
Article or “post” is written (usually on a blog)
Article appears in your feed reader

6. RSS in Plain English Common Craft Video
“Our product is explanation. We use video and paper to make complex ideas easy to understand.”

7. Aggregators, or Readers
There are many different types of aggregators
Web-based (Bloglines, Google Reader)
Desktop (FeedReader, FeedDemon)
(Thunderbird, GMail, R|Mail)
Web Browser (Firefox plug-ins)
Mobile phone

8. Where do I find feeds? On the web pages you regularly visit, blogs
The Pace Library Catalog
Via search tools
Bloglines:
News sites usually provide a variety of feeds
New York Times:
Sites in a discipline, i.e. higher education
Chronicle of Higher Education: (go to main page, click for Blogs)
Inside Higher Ed:

9. Where do I find feeds?
Academic journals and publishers– many academic publishers have begun syndicating feeds for their journals:
American Chemical Society Journals (click “Publications”)
American Psychological Association Journals
Cambridge Journals
Oxford Journals (From this list, choose a journal, go to its page, and in the lower right corner, copy the link location of the "XML RSS feed" under "Alerting Services")
University of California Press
University of Chicago Press

10. Where do I find feeds? Library article databases such as:
Academic Search Premier
Research Library
ABI/Inform
PsycInfo
CINAHL
Also consider “Alerts” or “T of C” (Table of Contents) services from library databases

11. Let’s start feeding! Reading? Eating? Google Reader http://google.com
Sign in or create a new Google account
From the “more” list, select “Reader”
Click “Help” for directions and troubleshooting
Click “Discover” to browse or search for feeds
Use the “Add a Subscription” link to add a feed to your reader

12. Questions? Thank you for your time and interest!
Sarah Burns Feyl, Assistant University Librarian for Instructional Services