Week 5: RSS and the Library

The readings this week allowed me learn of the different ways in which RSS has been used. I did not realize that RSS was being used in so many ways for a variety of purposes. Academic libraries in particular subscribe to many electronic resources that are not fully utilized by students (undergraduate). Not only that, some electronic resources are now incorporating RSS technology which can further aid students. The technology is advancing quickly yet many people who can benefit from it are unaware. I think libraries will play a big part in informing its users about RSS and use RSS as a means to disseminate information. In an academic library context, RSS feeds are a good way of informing students and faculty about RSS and keeping people current on updates to new resources as well as new features in the electronic resources.

The features that some databases are offering save a lot of time. It can be difficult and time consuming to search databases, so it is great that electronic resources are now offering RSS feeds by search query. In the case studies, I like that Engineering Village 2 offers an integrated customized RSS that draws updates from three databases. I look forward to seeing the different ways in which RSS will be used.