Archive for the tag 'Bloglines'

ProQuest RSS: Tap Into Search Feeds

September 26th, 2008

Lisa Laughy - Archives Assistant

Our third RSS feed related post this week is about using your feed reader to keep track of search results from the ProQuest database.  It is very simple to set up a RSS feed for your searches and then receive automatic updates whenever new items are added to the search results.  Here’s how it is done:

Once you have narrowed down your search in ProQuest, scroll to the bottom of the search list and locate the little RSS icon (see the image below).

Click on the “Create RSS Feed” link and a window will pop up with your customized feed address.  Click on the feed address located in the yellow box in the new window (shown below).

This will open up a browser window that takes you to the feed address.   You can now either select your feed reader from the drop-down list at the top of the page (I am using Bloglines – see picture below), or copy and paste the feed address from your browser’s navigation bar into your feed reader and follow the steps to subscribe.

Now that you have subscribed to your search feed in ProQuest, you can keep track of updates to your custom search without having to go back to the ProQuest website.  It will save you time and ensure that you have the most current periodical resources for your research topic.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

RSS: Feed For Thought

September 22nd, 2008

Lisa Laughy - Archives Assistant

It is likely that many of you are already aware of the organizational bonus a feed reader provides, but for those of you who have never heard of RSS, XML or ATOM, you may be missing out on a convenience that could change the way you browse online.

RSS stand for Really Simple Syndication, and is a way for websites like Ohrstrom Blog to syndicate online content.  Subscribing to Ohrstrom Blog’s feed through a browser-based feed reader like Bloglines or Google Reader lets you know when there is new content available, eliminating the need of having to visit the site.  Subscribing to feeds from all of your favorite sites in a feed reader provides a kind of one-stop-shopping convenience for getting information online.

The image above is a screenshot of the Bloglines interface.  Once you set up a free Bloglines (or one of the many other feed reader) account you can start tracking your favorite blogs and news sites.  A RSS subscription can be added by clicking a feed link on a blog or website. Most sites use some form of this RSS icon to identify their feed, but there are a number of different ways to subscribe, including entering a web address directly into the feed reader.  There are several subscription options available for Ohrstrom Blog included in the “Have a Chicklet” list in the sidebar on the left.

In Bloglines, your subscriptions are listed on the left side of the screen, and the title and synopsis of the new blog content is listed on the right.  The RSS feed from Ohrstrom Blog contains images and the full text of the blog post.  You can use your feed reader to scan the latest posts from Ohrstrom Blog, read the complete text, or click through to the actual entry in its fully formatted state on the Ohrstrom Blog.  Other feed readers function in the same basic way, it is just a matter of personal preference which reader you use.

Find yourself a feed reader and then subscribe to the Ohrstrom Blog feed by clicking the “Subscribe” link in the header, or by using one of the  chicklets in the sidebar list.  Then you will have an easy time keeping an eye out for the upcoming posts on RSS and feed readers during the next few weeks.

For an extensive list of feed readers available click HERE.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,