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RSS: Practical Uses for Professional, Personal and Patron Information

Brooklyn Public LibraryProfessional Development DayJanuary 12, 2009

Kathryn Shaughnessy, MA, MLSAssistant ProfessorInstructional Services LibrarianSenior 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 timeline…

• 1997-1999: 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 format

• 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, 8/4/2005 http://forimmediaterelease.biz/index.php/weblog/2005/08/05/ )

RSS 2.0 at Harvard Law website, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rssVersionHistory.html


RSS evolution …

• News scripting – code to keep updates fresh

• Distributing Blogs & Podcasts

• Personal / information gathering

• Organizational information distribution (wikis & microblogging)

• Education & Distributed Learning


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 Resources @ BPL

• @ brooklynpubliclibrary.org

Current Uses of RSS Resources @BPL

brooklynpubliclibrary.org feeds displayed in iGoogle

Current Uses of RSS Resources

Radio news and lectures (NPR)


– Print News & Podcast Syndication NYT


Academic-quality lectures (Princeton University Channel)


Journal Table of Contents Nature


– Library News


– Collection /Departmental News -- Library of Congress


Funding Opportunities


– Scholarly Communication – IL Tag from CiteULike


Serendipitous discovery through del.icio.us


Job / Internship feeds


Monster Job Search feed


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 (www.Newsgator.com)

• Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)

Directory of readers is available through dmoz: http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Clients/WWW/Feed_Readers/


Practical Questions about using RSS for podcasts:


brooklynpubliclibrary.org feeds displayed in iGoogle


GoogleReader


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 wiki

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

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

12

3

VOILA…RSS-ified!

More resources on RSS

LibGuide with RSS examples: http://libguides.stjohns.edu/RSS_info

Resources discussed in this presentation: http://delicious.com/kgshaughnessy/bpl_rss

Wiki covering Web2.0 resources for librarians and faculty http://stjctl.pbwiki.com/RSS

Video on using iGoogle: http://libraries.stjohns.edu/tutorials/iGoogle_RSS/LIBLog_iGoogle.htm

Practical RSS

Thank you for your time!

Kathryn Shaughnessy

Instructional Services Librarian

[email protected]