RSS Technology: A Tool to Expedite Up-to-

date Information For Library Users

Presented by

Anil Kumar Mishra

Lib. Information Officer
E-mail: anilmlis@gmail.com

National Institute of Health

and Family3/28/11
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 Introduction
v The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution and
the advent of the Internet has had drastic and far-reaching impacts on the
knowledge and information sector and added a new dimension to
information retrieval platforms.
v ICT has not only brought a change in the library and information services,
but also on the roles of librarians and information professionals in the
electronic environment, where users are more focus on e-resources as
compare to print resources.
v Librarians need tools to:
- To find the relevant, pin-pointed and up-to-date information quickly.
- To provide the relevant information quickly.
- To save the time of the user, who regularly use the web.
v RSS technology is one of the tools that libraries can use to simplify the
process of finding and providing information.

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 Concept
v RSS: RSS is an acronym with several popular meanings: Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication or RDF
Site Summary. It is a piece of XML coding that allows users to set a preference, by subscribing, to automatically
receive content from a web feed (RSS feed) on a periodic basis, such as hourly, daily, or weekly, as well as allowing
users to create web feeds to which others may subscribe. Various version of RSS:
(i) RSS 0.90
(ii) RSS 0.91
(iii) RSS 0.92
(iv) RSS 0.93
(v) RSS 0.94
(vi) RSS 1.0
(vii) RSS 2.0

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 Contd...
v RSS Feeds: It is an XML document that contains some kind of content, such as
summaries of new stories, current weather data, weblog posts, or images. It can
also be used to exchange machine readable data such as numerical data sets. Many
sites display a small icon in an orange button with the acronyms RSS, XML,
ATOM or RDF (Resource Description Framework) to let you know a feed is
available.

v RSS Reader: RSS Readers or Feed Readers or Aggregators display a list of

subscriptions, with highlighting or another indicator of RSS feeds that have added
content since the user last logged in. Without having to go to all of the individual
websites, users can quickly and easily access new materials from sites that interest
them through RSS readers. There are two types of aggregators:
(i) Desktop Aggregators: AmphetaDesk, FeedReader, FeedDemon,
NewsGator, RSSOWL, NetNewsWire, Omea Reader, etc.
(ii) Web based Aggregators: Google Reader, My Yahoo, Bloglines, NetVibes,
Pageflakes, FeedScout, NewsIsFree, etc.

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 Contd...
v XML: XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. XML was designed to
attach semantic to data i.e. adding context to the data. For example:
<?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”UTF-8” ?>
<book>
<title>Prolegomena to Library Classification</title>
<author>
<f_name>Ranganathan</f_name>
<l_name>S.R.</l_name>
</author>
<edition>3rd reprint</edition>
<place>Bangalore</place>
<publisher>Sarada Ranganathan Endowment</publisher>
<physical_desc>640 p.</physical_desc>
</book>
The example shows the structure of a document, which describes a book,
titled Prolegomena to Library Classification. The book has a title, author, edition,
place, publisher, physical description elements. Author is further divided into first
name (f_name) and last name (l_name). Inside these tags the actual data is stored.
These tags provide context to the whole structure of the document, hence these are
known as semantic tags.

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 Contd...
Thus, RSS technology is an efficient way to track what is new from selected websites, blogs,
databases and news services. The feed readers (used for to collect, organise and display all the feeds)
pull together new information from all your feeds in one handy place, saving your e-mail box from
being flooded with alerts.

Feed Feed
Publisher
(Creates Content)
(Content in a standard
format)
Reader
(Receives Content)

Publisher: Push out information in a standard format from one source to

many readers.
Feed Reader: Pull in information in a standard format from many sources into one
location.

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 What does RSS do?
Publisher can send to many readers from just one source.

Blog
News
Post
Title

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 Contd...
Reader can receive from many sources.

Fee
ds

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Old Days (Before RSS Technology)
Read Fee
er d

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eat (Read) 3/28/11 99
Today (After RSS Technology)

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Many Mice (Feeds) to

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 Components of RSS
v The item information includes item title, item description and URL
link to item. There are two important tags, i.e. <Channel> and
<Items> used to describe a feed and its items.

v Channel Tag: Required elements for channel tag are title, link,
description and item. Typical optional channel elements are
language, rights, publisher, creator, source, type, updatePeriod,
updateFrequency, updateBase.

v Item Tag: Required elements for item tag are title, link and
description. Typical Optional elements for item tags are language,
source, rights, date, type and issued.

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 Steps to Create and Promote the RSS Feed
v To create feeds using desktop software, FeedForAll is a good example. It allows
users to quickly and easily create, edit and publish RSS feeds. It has a built in
wizard that makes feed creation very easy. Steps to create the RSS feeds are:
Step 1: Enter the title of your RSS feed.
Step 2: Enter the description of your RSS feed.
Step 3: Enter the link of your RSS feed.
Step 4: Enter the title of the item.
Step 5: Enter the summary of the item.
Step 6: Enter the link of the item.
Step 7: Additional information, including images can be added to RSS feeds
to enhance them.
Once a feed is created, we have number of options to promote the feed:
v Transfer the feed onto the Server.
v Display the feed on the Website using a graphic of some sort.
v Include information in the HTML of the webpage so RSS Readers auto-detect the
feed.

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Step 1: Enter the Title of your RSS Feed.

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Step 2: Enter the Description of your RSS
Feed.

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Step 3: Enter the Link of Your RSS Feed.

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Step 4: Enter the Title of the Item.

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Step 5: Enter the Summary of the Item.

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Step 6: Enter the Link of the Item.

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Back Next Cancel

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Step 7: Additional Information

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 Steps in Using RSS
v To read the feeds, we need RSS Reader. Following steps are required to use RSS:
Step 1: Need an RSS Reader.
Step 2: Need sources that we want to keep up with, such as blogs, forums, news
websites, etc.
Step 3: Find the RSS icon on the page from which we want updates.
Step 4: Click on RSS icon on the blog (or whatever) we want to follow.
Step 5: Copy the RSS feed URL.
Step 6: Paste the feed URL in our Reader.
Step 7: Start reading.

For example, we show how to do it through Google Reader:

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Step 1: Open the Google Reader.
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Step 2: Write your E-mail, Password and Sign
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Step 3: No Feed for Read.
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Step 4: Open the Site and Click the RSS
Button
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Step5: Copy the RSS Feed URL
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Step 6: Click on Add a Subscription and Paste
it.
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Step 7: This is the Feed of Recent Post.
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Title of the
Feed
Manage
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Step 8:You also Manage the Feeds.

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 Blog
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 Database
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 News
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 Application of RSS In Library Services
v Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)
v Current Awareness Service (CAS)
v Bibliographic Service
v Bulletin Board Service

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 Pros of RSS
v RSS feeds are timely because subscribers get updates and breaking news as
soon as they are available.
v RSS feeds are cost effective because distribution and delivery costs are
very low.
v RSS works well within an e-mail. An e-mail client is not only view the
feeds but they can also be received and categorized automatically.
v There is no need to send one’s e-mail address anywhere to subscribe to an
RSS feed, therefore, privacy is assured.
v Spam like publishing is not impossible.
v Annoying feeds can be cancelled with only a few keystrokes. No
‘unsubscribe’ e-mail needs to be sent.
v RSS feeds help you save time by scoping the content that you receive to
your specific interests and ensuring that the information is always up-to-
date.

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 Cons of RSS
v RSS feeds provide no history, which means that you always get the newest
information; you can easily miss an article of interest to you, if you don’t
check the feeds for a few days.
v RSS feeds are a bandwidth waster because they automatically download
RSS files (usually hourly) to check for updates and changes.
v RSS feeds are complicated to set up. As people hear about RSS and
understand its value, they also become disappointed by the fact that it is not
an easy as surfing the web.
v RSS content doesn’t lend itself to search. Many search engines include RSS
feeds but they struggle to identity which information is new and hence,
greatly limit the value of search operations on this type of content.
v RSS feeds usually only show an abridged version of the contents, which can
be cryptic and may require you to open your web browser to see the full
title.

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 Conclusion
v New technologies are creating new opportunities for libraries. CD-
ROM databases-which not so long ago were the latest thing-have
now transitioned into growing online databases. Even as the
Internet creates new opportunities for the library, it may also
become a rival to library systems.
v Libraries must follow new technologies very closely and the
advantages of the newest innovations, such as RSS feeds, must be
reflected in library services. If this is not done voluntarily, this
integration will be forced overtime.
v Thus, librarians and libraries should exploit this technology to
effectively promote the content they produce and help their users to
select appropriate feeds. And also use this technology to keep them
up-to-date in this era of information explosion.

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 Thank you

Twitter: anilkmishra

Anil mishra 3/28/11 36