Do You See RSS in Your Future

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Do You See RSS in Your Future?

• Paoshan Yue Araby GreeneUniversity of Nevada,
  Reno LibrariesNASIG, May 2005

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Topics

• What is RSS?
• How does it work?
• How is it used in libraries?
• How is it used in the serials world?
• UNR projects
• Potential of RSS for the serials community
• Conclusion

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Glossary

• Weblog a website that contains posts in reverse
  chronological order, almost always with RSS feeds
• Blog short for weblog
• RSS feed RSS file
• Feed reader A feed reader gathers feeds you
  select and formats them for display.

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What is RSS?

• RSS is an XML vocabulary
• XML is a standard medium of data exchange, so RSS
  files are easily shared across Web sites
• RSS lets you syndicate (share) news and
  frequently-updated content on the Internet
• The meaning of RSS varies
• RDF Site Summary RSS Version 1.0
• Really Simple Syndication RSS Version 2.0

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Meet Atom, a new kid on the block

• Atom is a new XML-based publishing format that is
  quickly becoming popular
• Blogger.com, owned by Google, creates syndicated
  feeds using Atom
• Atom was developed to reconcile a SnitFest
  between proponents of RSS 1 and RSS 2 but became
  a shiny new thing. Worth watching!

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the RSS Clone War continues

• Development of RSS was a long bitter struggle!

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RSS 1 RSS 2 are different!

• RSS versions .9 and 1.0 are based on RDF
  (Resource Description Framework) and may contain
  much metadata.
• RSS .91 and.92 dropped RDF, and RSS 2.0 added new
  features.
• The version you choose depends on what you want
  to do with the data.
• Feed readers can process all of them

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How does RSS work?

• RSS originated in the Blogosphere. Most blogging
  applications produce an associated RSS feed
• Users subscribe to a feed and are notified when
  its updated!
• They can read it when its convenient, using a
  feed reader or web-based aggregator
• Users can unsubscribe whenever they want, so they
  get only the news they choose
• Mobile devices can get RSS feeds, too

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How does RSS Work?

• If you produce an RSS feed, the flow of news
  items from your site to users would look
  something like this

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What is RSS used for, mostly?

• NEWS and BLOGS
• Communication in business and academia
• Sharing technical information, link lists, photos
• For example
• New York Times
• Wired News

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Find an aggregator many choices!

• Web-based aggregators (free)
• Bloglines, NewsGator Online Edition,My Yahoo!,
  Pluck Web Edition
• Readers that plug-in to other applications
• Pluck (IE), NewsMonster (Mozilla)
• NewsGator (MS Outlook)
• Standalone readers
• FeedDemon, AmphetaDesk, Awasu, RSSReader
• CNet reviews help you getting started

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How do you find RSS feeds?

• Registries
• Syndic8.com lists 1000s of categorized feedsOn
  15 May 2005, it indexed
• 388,131 feeds, of which 298,610 are RSS, and
  74,801 are Atom
• Aggregators (web-based or desktop clients)
• Many have searchable feed directories
• Most provide categorized starter lists
• Search Engines
• Feedster 6,867,282 feeds indexed and fully
  searchable

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Look for orange icons on websites!

• Standard icons like these are everywhere!
• If you have a browser integrated reader, click
  the icon to preview the feed. Otherwise, copy
  the link, then paste it into the add feed
  dialog in your reader
• Some links let you subscribe directly tothe
  feed in a specificaggregator

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Without makeup, RSS is really ugly!
The first encounter with RSS is not likely to be
pretty. To new users, the raw code will
look scary or broken.
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Same RSS file styled with XSLT
You will see few rssfeeds styled by
theproducer, but it gives users a preview.
The comment at topadds information about the
next steps getting an aggregatorand
subscribing.
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Are Libraries Using RSS?

• YOU BET!
• October 2003 -- 49 libraries producing 55 weblogs
  in the world (Source Clyde, Laurall A. Library
  Weblogs Library Management, 2004, v.25 no.4/5
  pp.183-189)
• April 12, 2005 245 libraries producing many
  hundreds of weblogs (Source 4-12-05 post at
  blogwithoutalibrary.net)
• May 15, 2005 430 libraries producing who knows
  how many weblogs (Source 5-15-05 manual count
  at blogwithoutalibrary.net)

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Blogwithoutalibrary.net

• A blog about what libraries are doing with blogs
  RSS

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (1)

• Library News

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (2)

• Subject blogs or subject guides

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (3)

• New acquisitions by library

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (4)

• New acquisitions by subject

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (5)

• Book reviews

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (6)

• Catalog search queries

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (7)

• Personalized circulation information

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (8)

• Academic blogs

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (9)

• Internal communication

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How Is RSS Used in Libraries? (10)

• Subject list of selected RSS feeds

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (1)

• Conference blogs

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (2)

• Journal table of contents BioMed Central

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (3)

• Journal table of contents Oxford Journals

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (4)

• Journal table of contents APS Journals

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (5)

• Journal table of contents Nature Publishing

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (6)

• Journals with RSS feeds on library websites

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (7)

• New electronic journal titles

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (8)

• Recent serial issues received

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (9)

• Database search queries -- HubMed

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (10)

• Database search queries PubMed (soon)

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How Is RSS Used in the Serials World? (11)

• Database search queries Engineering Village 2
  (testing phase, target late spring)

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RSS Projects at UNR Library

• The Find Journals page has 2 links that lead to
  RSS Feeds
• New Titles This Month
• eJournals with RSS Feeds

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New Electronic Journals

• We use ASP.Net to dynamically create the New
  Electronic Journals page and RSS 2.0 feed from
  information stored in an SQL Server database
• Each file has a .aspx extension so that our IIS
  (Windows) web server will process the embedded
  ASP.Net script
• The script is written in the Visual Basic.Net
  language. It connects to SQL Server and requests
  data from a stored procedure (query)

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Look, Ma! No hands!
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The Code (text files)

• ASP.Net script to create eJournals RSS feed from
  SQL Server, output to memory stream ejrss.aspx
• You could also save the output to a static xml
  file, or write directly to the server if you have
  permission ejnew.xml
• XSL style sheet ej.xslThis style sheet
  contains a ltdivgt explaining RSS above the actual
  feed output

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The RSS Auto-Discovery Tag

• Include this ltlinkgt tag in the head of any
  document to let visitors know that you serve RSS
  feeds on your siteltlink relalternate
  typeapplication/rssxml titleUniversity of
  Nevada, Reno Libraries New Electronic Journals
  hrefhttp//www.library.unr.edu/ejournals/ejrss.a
  spx /gt
• Firefox displays a small orange icon in the lower
  right corner of web pages with this tag. Visitors
  can click it to create a Firefox Live Bookmark

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Potential of RSS for the Serials Community (1)

• Create a blog on serials librarianship have
  lots of us subscribe to it!
• E-journal table of contents feeds
• E-journal TOC feeds in OPAC?
• Database search queries in RSS feeds a common
  feature in the future?

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Potential of RSS for the Serials Community (2)

• E-journal package/collection content updates
• Newsletters by publisher/vendor
• NASIG news/jobs/training opportunities
• Canned OPAC search queries in RSS feeds
• Just keep imagining

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Conclusion

• RSS is here to stay
• RSS is news you choose
• RSS is a current awareness tool
• RSS-ify appropriate content on your website
• Suggest that websites with good content but no
  RSS feeds RSS-ify their content
• Have fun with it!

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Suggested Feeds (1)

• RSS Compendium info about RSS readers,
  resources, tools, etc.
• Website http//allrss.com/
• Lisfeeds.com aggregated 240 library blogs
• Website http//www.lisfeeds.com/
• The Shifted Librarian
• Website http//www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/
• RSS http//www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/rss.xml

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Suggested Feeds (2)

• Catalogablog
• Website http//catalogablog.blogspot.com/
• RSS http//catalogablog.blogspot.com/rss/cataloga
  blog.xml
• National Public Radio RSS Feeds
• Website http//www.npr.org/rss/index.html

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Suggested Readings (1)

• Readings -- articles
• Cohen, Steven M. RSS for Non-Techie
  Librarians. http//www.llrx.com/features/rssforl
  ibrarians.htm
• MacLeod, Roddy. RSS Less Hype, More Action
  FreePint, June 17, 2004. http//www.freepint.com/i
  ssues/170604.htmfeature
• Wusteman, Judith. RSS the Latest Feed Library
  Hi Tech, 2004, v.22 no.4 pp.404-413.
  http//ceres.emeraldinsight.com/vl1288565/cl38/n
  w1/fmdocpdf/rpsv/cw/mcb/07378831/v22n4/s10/p404
• Reichardt, Randy. RSS Moving into the
  Mainstream EI Update Engineering Information
  Online Newsletter, March/April 2005, v.3 no.1
  http//www.ei.org/eiupdate/03_librarians_corner/in
  dex.html

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Suggested Readings (2)

• Readings books
• Hammersley, Ben. Developing Feeds with RSS and
  Atom. Sebastopol, CA OReilly, 2005.
  0-596-00881-3
• Fitzgerald, Michael. XML Hacks. CA OReilly,
  2004. 0-596-00711-6
• Ayers, Danny and Andrew Watt. Beginning RSS and
  Atom Programming. Indianapolis Wiley, 2005.
  0-7645-7916-9
• Tennison, Jeni. Beginning XSLT. Berkeley Apress,
  2004. 1-59059-260-3
• Morrison, Michael. Sams Teach Yourself XML in 24
  Hours. 2nd ed. Indianapolis Sams, 2002.
  0-672-32213-7

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Thank You!

• Paoshan Yue, Electronic Resources Access
  Librarian, yue_at_unr.edu
• Araby Greene, Web Development Librarian,
  araby_at_unr.edu
• University of Nevada, Reno Libraries