What Is RSS and How Can Libraries Use It to Improve Patron Service?
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050610713718 |
| Pages | 32-33 |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Author | Katherine Holvoet |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
What Is RSS and How Can Libraries Use It to
Improve Patron Service?
Katherine Holvoet
32 LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 8 2006, pp. 32-33, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050610713718
Library and information professionals
are at the forefront of the effort to help
people navigate the almost
incomprehensible explosion of
information occurring on the World
Wide Web. The tools and techniques
previously used to organize and find
materials are overwhelmed by new
formats such as web pages and digital
databases, as well as by the incredible
speed with which materials are
published in these formats. Librarians
have the daunting task of keeping
themselves informed on the latest
developments and knowing the newest
technologies, while providing
assistance to all the previous forms and
formats of information.
Librarians need tools to find relevant
information. Additionally, libraries
need tools to help provide information
to their patrons. RSS is one of many
emerging content creation and
management tools that libraries and
librarians can use to simplify the
process of finding and providing
information. It is possible to quickly,
and relatively painlessly incorporate an
RSS feed into a library web page to
push information to patrons, or to learn
to use an RSS feed aggregator to pull in
relevant information from web logs, or
other web sites with RSS feeds.
What is RSS?
RSS is an acronym with several
popular meanings[1]: rich site
summary, really simple syndication, or
RDF site summary. In the end, it
doesn't matter what RSS stands for, as
the terms don't really explain what RSS
is, or how it can be used. Conceptually,
RSS is Tivo
TM
for the internet. Tivo
TM
or other digital video recorders allow
cable TV customers to automatically
record a television program, no matter
what time it comes on, even if the show
airs on a non-standard day/time. RSS is
a piece of XML coding that allows
users to set a preference, by
subscribing, to automatically receive
content from a web 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.
What are web feeds? A web feed is
an XML document that contains some
kind of content, such as summaries of
new stories, current weather data, web
log posts, or images. Web feeds can
also be used to exchange machine
readable data such as numerical data
sets.
RSS is the technical framework that
allows users to view posts or
summaries, and to create them, much
like HTML is the framework that
allows users to create and display web
pages. Web pages are viewed through
web browsers; RSS web feeds are
viewed through feed readers. There are
many feed readers to choose from, but
they all fall into one of two categories,
web-based, or desktop based. Each
form has benefits and downsides. Web-
based feed readers such as the popular
Bloglines[2] conserve server space by
deleting every web feed post unless
otherwise directed. The user has to
make a choice to save every summary/
post as desired. Computer or desktop
based feed readers, such as
NewsGator[3] automatically save every
web feed post unless directed on a case
by case basis to delete. Desktop based
feed readers allow users to search
previously harvested feeds by keyword.
Why should librarians care about
RSS?
Information seekers push for faster
and faster publishing models ± first the
book, then the journal, then the pre-
print server, then the web log, and now
the RSS feed. Each progressive
publishing model shortened the time
from content creation to publication,
and generally shortened the length of
the content. Using RSS feeds, an
information seeker can find many
pieces of content about pre-selected
topics with little effort.
RSS feeds are often created from
web logs. Web logs have unique
features that other forms of publishing
lack, such as comment threads. After
most ``blog'' entries are published,
readers can add comments to the post.
The ability to add comments facilitates
a dialog between the writer and the
audience in a way that has never existed
in other publishing models. Journals
often have a space for readers to
comment on previously published
articles, but that space is very limited in
proportion to the rest of the publication.
On a web log, there is no need to limit
the response to a post, one reader or 100
or can respond. The process can
dramatically shorten the time it takes
for new ideas to be proposed and
discussed.
RSS feeds and web logs also have
another advantage over traditional
forms of publishing, the content is
presented in fewer words. Blog posts
tend to be fairly short; the average word
count from a random selection of ten
blog posts was 198. The posts were
from a mix of library-related and
computer science related blogs. The
feeds allow the reader to quickly
determine if the topic is of further
interest, and to cover many topics in a
short period of time.
Librarians have created many
profession focused RSS web feeds,
such as Catalogblog[4], LISFeeds[5],
and for a state specific example, Utah
and National Library News[6]. These
feeds concentrate on library specific
topics, from patron service issues and
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