in General, Libraries/Info Sci, Tech

Library Instruction – (very) basic intro to RSS for libraries

Tomorrow morning I have to give a brief instructional session in my Library Instruction class. I’ve decided to go with a (very) basic intro to RSS for libraries and librarians. In an experiment, I’ll be running the whole thing from this post (with backup copies of links in hand, of course).

Now, if anybody is interested in the links I use in class, they can just come here and try things themselves!

What is RSS?
WebReference has an excellent intro guide to exactly what RSS is.

RSS example – my blog
In a shameless plug, this is the link to the RSS feed for my site.

www.BlogLines.com
Bloglines is a basic web-based aggregator (a method of reading and displaying RSS feeds)

Hennepin County Public Library – Minnesota
HCPL is one of the first public libraries I’ve noticed to include RSS functionality in their catalog. Look for the little orange ‘XML’ button.

HCPL search for “Rowling, J K”
Sample search to demonstrate the usefulness of RSS catalog feeds.

Wikipedia list of aggregators
If you’re interested in running a non web-based aggregator, Wikipedia has a comprehensive list.

If time allows:
ABC News Podcasts
And if for some unlikely reason I have extra time to fill, I’ll touch on ABC’s podcasts briefly.