Save Time, Know More

• RSS feeds allow you to subscribe to content on a website so you know when the website is updated
• Websites publicize their RSS feeds using RSS icons
• RSS defined by Wikipedia
• For a fun overview to RSS, check out the RSS in Plain English video on YouTube

There are innumerable sites that provide RSS feeds. Some of the most common websites that publish RSS feeds are:

• newspapers (San Antonio Express-News, New York Times)
• blogs (Technorati Top 100 Blogs)
• weather sites (Weather Channel feeds)
• government sites (U.S. Government RSS Library)

RSS is not limited to written information. Several websites offer RSS feeds for pictures, audio (podcasts), and video. Examples:

• NPR program podcasts (audio)
• You Tube (videos)
• Cute Overload (pictures)

There are also RSS feeds for periodicals in the library's research databases.

• Journal alerts - find out when a new issue is published
• Available from the EBSCO databases such as Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, etc.

You will need a RSS aggregator to subscribe to RSS feeds. These aggregators search each of your RSS feeds and alert you when the site publishes new content.

Some stand-alone RSS aggregators:

• Google Reader
• Bloglines
• Netvibes

Programs with RSS readers

• Firefox
• Outlook

Google Reader is a web-based RSS aggregator. You can set up a free account and start subscribing to RSS feeds today!

We will set up an account in this session.

1. Go to Google Reader
2. Sign in with your Google Account or Create a Google Account
3. Start adding feeds!

During the session, I brought the library's Bloglines account and demonstrated how to add feeds. The class worked on adding feeds to their Bloglines accounts.

There are several search engines that you can use to find RSS feeds. Here are a few:

• Technorati
• Feedster
• Google Blog Search
  

Here are some RSS feeds...

Academic feeds

• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Inside Higher Ed

St. Mary's feeds

• In Blume - News from the Blume Library
• Campus Events
• Campus News

During the session, I brought the library's Bloglines account and demonstrated how to add feeds. The class worked on adding feeds to their Bloglines accounts.

Workshop presentation for St. Mary's University faculty and staff.

Developed by Necia Wolff, Business/Distance Learning Librarian, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary's University.

Contact info:

phone: 210-431-2299 x1452
email: nwolff@stmarytx.edu

Related Workshop: Introduction to Blogging

Created: 10/02/2006 | Last updated: 9/11/2007

slides version | printable version

This presentation template was created by Jessamyn West. The template is distributed for free on librarian.net under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.