1. Rightly Sore Subscribers: Where Libraries are Going Wrong with RSS Gemma Blackburn, Library Systems Developer Mary Walker, Electronic Resources Librarian Wichita State University Libraries Brick & Click: An Academic Library Symposium, November 7, 2008

2. Today’s Agenda What is RSS? RSS Usage Overview of RSS Options for Libraries Introducing RSS to Library Patrons Future of RSS

3. What is RSS? RSS trends are surprising RSS shrouded in mystery Emerged in the late 1990s Tool to move information in an automated fashion Part of the Web 2.0 suite of technologies Most popular use is content summary

4. How does it work? Content into metadata elements In XML document Fed into a feed reader or aggregator

5. RSS by many other names RDF - Resource Description Framework Site Summary Rich Site Summary Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0) Atom

6. RSS Usage If RSS is such a great tool, why are so few people using it? Users = Classic Early Adopters 2005 Yahoo! Study % of Internet users aware of RSS 12% % of Internet users knowingly using RSS 4% 2006 Media Buyer Planner Study % of US Employees aware of RSS 9% % of US Employees using RSS 2%

7. Aware/Unaware RSS Use There are many more unaware RSS users than aware RSS users 27% of internet users are unaware RSS users 4% of internet users are aware RSS users How is this possible?

8. What is Email? Most email programs use a protocol called SMTP Users don’t understand SMTP, but do understand the concept of email. The same is true with RSS.

9. How RSS IS being Used Some companies are trying to promote RSS use without promoting RSS by branding as something else Majority of RSS comes from personal portal pages – My Yahoo! – iGoogle Information is chosen by the user and fed into the portal

10. My Yahoo! Examples of feeds in a My Yahoo! Account This user is completely unaware of what RSS is, but is able to manage RSS feeds

11. RSS Potential RSS has so many uses, and so much potential as an information delivery tool Profit-driven companies are not embracing RSS because of the low number of users Non-profits, such as libraries, are more open to experimenting with RSS, and have many options available

12. Uses for RSS feeds Library Uses Library blogs Book reviews OPAC search results Circulation activities New e-resources Library news New purchases Common Uses TOC alerts News Announcements Search alerts

13. Libraries as intermediaries List of RSS aggregators List of journals with TOC feeds Providing collated feeds from other sites Incorporating other sites’ feeds Providing RSS-based search engines

14. E-Journals and RSS Libraries creating lists of journals that provide RSS Ebling Library – RSS Journal and News Feeds http://ebling.library.wisc.edu/rss/index.cfm Health Science Serials in Cyberspace http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/ Multidisciplinary University of Nevada, Reno Libraries http://www.library.unr.edu/ejournals/alphaRSS.aspx Multidisciplinary

15. E-Journals and RSS Publishers providing similar lists for their journals ACS Publications http://pubs.acs.org/alerts/rss/index.html Chemistry APA Journals http://www.apa.org/journals/rss.html Psychology Wiley Gale CSA ASME

16. RSS & Library Patrons Libraries and librarians are promoting RSS use more aggressively than the profit driven industry – 25% of ARL libraries have RSS feeds available – 12% of business have RSS feeds available We are willing, but are we able?

17. RSS & Library Patrons Little attention has been given to the BEST USE of RSS within the library field Statistics show a great disparity between the enthusiasm of feed publishers and the potential user base Libraries are in a good position to lead the way in promoting RSS as a TOOL and not as a TECHNOLOGY

18. RSS & Library Patrons “People do not want to learn a new software if there is no motivation to do so” Most RSS feeds consist of a button on a page – Click on the button and nothing happens – How are users supposed to know what to do? – Users don’t want to have to learn how to use an RSS Aggregator – The whole RSS process is not intuitive

19. RSS & Library Patrons RSS needs to be intuitive If users have no concept of what RSS is, it needs to be promoted as something else – Part of a personal portal – An extension of email – An extension of a web browser

20. RSS & Library Patrons RSS needs to be easy to use Make it easy for the patrons to subscribe – My Yahoo! / iGoogle buttons – Add This buttons – XSLT for visual display of RSS

21. Assessment of RSS Use Use statistics are important to gauge the success or failure or individual feeds and services RSS statistics are difficult to assess, but more options are available; – Google Analytics – My Yahoo! / Add This – Feed Burner

22. Future of RSS Fully integrated Used in the mainstream keep end user needs & interests in mind Libraries have the potential to lead the way for all RSS users!

23. Any Questions? Thank you! Gemma Blackburn, gemma.smith@wichita.edu Mary Walker, mary.walker@wichita.edu