Email Alerts

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Email Alerts RSS Feeds
Barbara Lazewski Tom Durkin Amy Kindschi Erika
Sevetson Adapted from Eric Larsons
workshops University of Wisconsin-Madison
Libraries
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This workshop will cover

• Alerts, RSS Feeds and Feed Readers
• What they are
• How to set them up
• How to locate them

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Why would I want to set up an RSS feed or Alert
service?

• Save time keeping up with the literature
• See new works by author
• Get new research on a topic
• Receive current journal Table of Contents
• Find papers citing your favorite paper
• Keep up on topics of interest

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Who provides alerts RSS feeds

• Publishers (TOC)
• Article databases
• Web sites and Web logs (blogs)

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Email Alert

• A saved search in a journal article database sent
  to your email
• Monthly or weekly
• Sample databases
• - Web of Knowledge
• PubMed
• Academic Search

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RSS

• Real Simple Syndication
• File format that web sites, blogs and databases
  use
• Shows short description of content with link to
  full version
• RSS feeds are read with a Feed Reader

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How do I subscribe to an RSS feed?

• You need a feed reader
• Well demo Bloglines

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Pros and Cons

• Email Alerts
• Pro comes to your email
• Con gets lost in your email
• RSS Feeds
• Pro many sources collected in one place
• Pro easy to save selected items
• Con many databases do not have RSS yet
• Con need to remember to check your Feed Reader
• Con can be addictive!

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Article database alerts

• Author
• Topic
• Journal Table of Contents
• Cited References

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Email Alert Demo
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http//www.library.wisc.edu/alerts/rss-alert-guide
s.html
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RSS Demo
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http//www.bloglines.com/
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Bloglines demohttp//www.bloglines.com/
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How do I find RSS feeds?

• RSS feeds are linked to image icons
• XML or RSS
• 2. RSS can be discovered by your browser
  (Firefox show below)

XML
RSS
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RSSWho has them?
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RSS--It Looks Crazy!URL in Browser Address Bar
More Important
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Blog
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Bloglines demohttp//www.bloglines.com/
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5,056 subscribers
13 subscribers
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Technoratihttp//www.technorati.com/
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Individual Blogs
Individual Podcasts
Business database subject search
Technorati Blog subject search
Web of Science subject search
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University of Arizona
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Want to Add RSS to your website?

• Use the free and easy Feed to JavaScript tool.
• http//feed2js.org/
• Check out Univ of Arizona site for more details
• WLA program Fri, 9001015 a.m.  
• Beyond Newsletters RSS Feeds, Blogs, and
  Podcasts by Bonnie Shucha and Amy Gannaway