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Using Alerts and RSS feeds for Current Awareness Services and Dynamic Web Content

Get More from Your Library Databases. Using Alerts and RSS feeds for Current Awareness Services and Dynamic Web Content. Robin Hastings Information Technology Manager Missouri River Regional Library robin.hastings@gmail.com. Joy Weese Moll Librarian Consultant joyweesemoll@yahoo.com.

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Using Alerts and RSS feeds for Current Awareness Services and Dynamic Web Content

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  1. Get More from Your Library Databases Using Alerts and RSS feeds for Current Awareness Services and Dynamic Web Content Robin Hastings Information Technology Manager Missouri River Regional Library robin.hastings@gmail.com Joy Weese Moll Librarian Consultant joyweesemoll@yahoo.com

  2. Virtual Handout • mladatabasepresentation.pbwiki.com

  3. XML-based language Conceived in 1995 First used in Netscape's “My Netscape” portal in 1999 AOL didn't like it, downplayed it Really took off in 2003 What Is RSS?

  4. RSS Structure • Structure • Items in a single channel • Each item contains title, link & description (attributes)‏ • LastBuildDate & pubDate enable “on demand” publishing – let aggregators know what is new <item> <title>Lloyd George Knew My Great-Great Grandmother.</title> <link>http://0-search.ebscohost.com.catalog.mrrl.org/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=afh&amp;AN=24441857&amp;site=ehost-live</link> <description>History Today; 03/01/2007&lt;br /&gt; (AN 24441857)&lt;br /&gt; Academic Search Elite</description> <author>Snow, Dan</author> <guid isPermaLink="false">afh_AN_24441857</guid> </item>

  5. Blogs First popularized use of RSS Feeds work well for chronological format of blog postings Aggregators “feed readers” Allowed users to pick many feeds and read them in one place Sources News sites, blogs, libraries, stores... How is RSS used in the real world?

  6. Search Narrow the topic appropriately Click the “Create Alert For This Search” link Note the standard RSS symbol before the link Copy the syndication feed in the window that pops up Use it (more on this later...)‏ Search Feeds

  7. Creating A Search Feed

  8. MRRL’s Search Alert - Genealogy

  9. Click on the “Title List” link under any database in the Choose Database screen Click on the RSS symbol before any Journal Copy the syndication link from the next page Use it! Journal Alerts

  10. Creating A Journal Alert pt1

  11. Creating A Journal Alert pt2

  12. Easy – no server side tech required Unpredictable – their server goes down, your feed goes down http://itde.vccs.edu/rss2js/build.php - Feed2JS http://www.rss-to-javascript.com/p/138.html - RSS -To-Javascript http://www.feedroll.com/rssviewer/ - RSS Viewer & Feed Combiner http://www.howdev.com/products/fs/ - FeedSweep http://www.mysyndicaat.com/mysynd/home/1 - mySyndicaat Using RSS in your site - Javascript

  13. Requires PHP or ASP server side languages Other languages (Ruby on Rails, Cold Fusion, etc.) have parsers, too http://www.rss-info.com/en_rssinclude-simple.html - (JS or PHP)‏ http://www.tecnorama.org/document.php?id_doc=68 - (DreamWeaver Extension - PHP)‏ http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/ - (PHP - free and for pay versions)‏ http://www.bytescout.com/how_to_display_rss_using_asp.html - (ASP)‏ Using RSS in your site – Server Side

  14. Page created to show many different ways to put RSS on your site Each link shows an example of the way your feeds will look http://www.davidrothman.net/rss2webpage.html All links on all previous slides are on the virtual handout – don't forget! Free Solutions – with examples!

  15. Current Awareness Service • Ongoing research (months or years)‏ • Individual Patrons • Academic Researchers • Authors • Hobbyists • Re-enactors • Librarians • Ego searches • RSS Reader or EMail

  16. Search Terms • An art – but you do it everyday! • Experiment – aim for relevancy • Librarians’ best friends • Subject headings • Thesauri

  17. Publicity • Training • Drop-in sessions • Workshops • BI sessions • One-on-one • Appointments • Reference Desk encounters • Newsletters, brochures, other marketing materials • Informational web page

  18. Web newsletter for teaching faculty

  19. Database Providers offering Alert Services • EBSCOhost • Project Muse • Wilson Web • Thomson Gale • Many more • See links on virtual handout (mladatabasepresentation.pbwiki.com) to lists that other libraries have created • And more every day

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