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Keeping Up with RSS
by Andrea Delumeau

Until recently RSS seemed to be one of those buzzwords one could safely ignore, but not any longer! For a long time I have been looking for an easy, not too time-consuming way to keep up with the numerous developments in our field. On my quest to find a good strategy for keeping up, I found Stephen Bell's Keeping Up Web Site at http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup. Although addressed mainly to academic librarians, I find it useful for librarians of all backgrounds. He was rather anti-RSS at the time (he considered it too time-consuming to learn), but he has now changed his mind and even provides a tutorial! He said this about keeping up:

"Keeping up should be based on a strategy. Individuals need to determine what they need to know, what resources will deliver that needed information, how much time they can commit, and what is the best way to get the right mix delivered with the least amount of effort. It's all about maintaining control over the information stream that flows to your desktop."

Although he considered it too time-consuming to learn how to implement RSS at the time, he nevertheless encouraged all librarians to find out more about it and suggested reading the WSG Newsletter article “RSS Newsreaders Deliver Headlines” at http://www.websearchguide.ca/newsletter/030228.htm.

When I visited that article, I came across another helpful article, “RSS For Non-Techie Librarians” by Steven M Cohen at http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm.

What is RSS?

So what is RSS? According to the Webopedia, RSS stands for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RSS.html). A less technical definition that is often used is Really Simple Syndication.

RSS is an XML format which enables the syndication, or sharing, of content. The data usually provided are pieces of information like a title, a brief description, and a link. For a basic introduction to RSS, see WebReference.com (http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/).

Some people see RSS as the next big thing that is going to revolutionize the web. This is certainly an exaggeration; for a balanced view read "RSS: Less Hype, More Action" by Roddy MacLeod (http://www.freepint.com/issues/170604.htm#feature).

For me, it is simply a very convenient way to keep up!

Getting Started

In order to read RSS feeds, you need a news reader or aggregator. The first step is to choose a news aggregator for your desktop in order to receive and read RSS feeds. You may decide whether a web-based or desktop-based aggeregator works best for you. I experimented with a couple that were suggested by Steven Cohen, but finally decided to use a web-based one, Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com), since it can be accessed anywhere and was easiest to use. For a good selection of both types of newsreaders, see the Christian Science Monitor’s easy-to-understand primer on RSS at http://www.csmonitor.com/rss/#about.

I would then suggest doing a tutorial. I like Karen G. Schneider’s tutorial “Getting Started with RSS: The Fifteen-Minute Tutorial” at http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/111803/getting_started_with.php for its down to earth approach. In this short but informative tutorial you'll subscribe to the feed for Resource Shelf (http://www.resourceshelf.com/), Gary Price's very useful site for librarians, from which you can always unsubscribe later if you want.

Where to Find Feeds

Many sites announce their RSS feed with a link labeled "Syndicate" or a small rectangular orange icon that says "XML." LISFeeds (http://lisfeeds.com/) lists some library-related feeds.

Suggested Feeds for Keeping Up

Stephen Bell recommends Gary Price's Resource Shelf (http://www.resourceshelf.com/). I would add Steven Cohen’s Library Stuff (“The library weblog dedicated to resources for keeping current and professional development”) at: http://www.librarystuff.net/.