Why should libraries care about RSS?
Rich Site Summary or Real[ly] Simple Syndication is the functional description of RSS according to author Meredith G. Farkas. Based on XML, RSS is the format for syndicating content on the Web and breaks Web sites into discrete chunks of infomation. Essentially, users can subscribe to the site's RSS feed for blogs, news sites, and other Web content and receive the updated content in a single place. This information is accessed through an aggregator or a "news/feed reader" found in a desktop brower, e-mail client, mobile device, or Web portal. In a nutshell, RSS is the key to staying informed and preventing information overload (Farkas, 2007).
Chapter 4 gives a number of substantial reasons why libraries should care about RSS. As Publishers, RSS allows librarians an excellent way to push contents to our patrons, make content more easily accessible, and combine content from various sites onto a single page. Library patrons can be easily updated with new and upcoming news, events and programs from the library's Web site or opt for specific feeds such as general news, adult or youth book clubs, adult or special programs, reading lists for all genres and even lists of new books and materials now available. RSS also enables libraries to integrate their blog content into their main site for easy to find access (Farkas, 2007).
In academic libraries, faculty and grad students can subscribe to the RSS feeds for their areas of interest to receive the newest, current books on their subject matter and on a regular basis. As Middlemen, Farkas emphasizes that librarians can syndicate and remix existing feeds from a variety of sources to provide useful information for their patrons. Journal and database vendors such as ProQuest provide curriculum-specific RSS feeds by doing the searching and finding the relevant articles for students and faculty to subscribe to. Registered users can also subscribe to RSS feeds of subject-specific content searches in EBSCO databases (Farkas, 2007).
As Consumers, librarians can keep current with favorite blogs, journals and news sites using RSS to consolidate all their online reading in a single place. RSS is the ultimate tool for keeping up-do-date with relevant content, keeping up with the constant flow of online information and for preventing information overload (Farkas, 2007).
Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries: Building collaboration, communication, and community online. Medford, NJ: Information Today.
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