1. WISER History: Stay up-to-date with RSS feeds and eAlerts Isabel D. Holowaty, History Librarian

2. Ways of keeping up with research New journal issues Learned societies’ webpages, newsletters, etc. Published book reviews Tutor/ peer network eMail discussion groups Regular database trawls Internet, RSS feeds & blogs Information services offered by librarian etc.

3. Aim Introduce RSS feeds Show how to collect & manage them Introduce electronic alerting services Show how to create alert profiles Dealing with information overload

4. RSS feeds RSS is a family of web feeds formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts. Users of RSS content use programs called feed “readers” or “aggregators”.

5. RSS feeds The user subscribes to a feed by supplying to their reader a link to the feed; the reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it checked, and if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user. RSS feeds are typically linked with the word "Subscribe", and an orange square or

6. Advantages of RSS feeds You don't need to register separately at numerous sites. Table of Contents (ToC) have links directly to the articles on the e-journal site. You can look at your ToC alerts whenever you like. Your RSS reader will indicate whenever you have unread ToCs available. It is much easier to unsubscribe from an RSS feed than from an email alerting service.

7. How can I read RSS feeds? Register at an RSS reader web site such as Google or download and install RSS reader software. Subscribe to your chosen RSS feeds. Look out for this standard icon: or or URLs http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/newsfeeds/all.xml http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/newsfeeds/all.xml Right-click on the icon (or RSS link), copy the Shortcut (or Link Location) and paste it into your RSS reader.

14. Compiling RSS subscriptions e.g. Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/)http://www.google.com/reader/ See OUCS for more information on readers.

15. List of some useful RSS feeds: eJournals ZETOC Alert Oxford Journals Online Cambridge Journals Online Project Muse IngentaConnect Blackwell Synergy Taylor & Francis informaworld University of Chicago Press BEWARE! Full-text access only possible if a subscription is held

16. List of some useful RSS feeds: Digital collections, HE news British History Online (IHR) Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) Intute Arts & Humanities Higher Education & Research Opportunities (HERO) Oxford University, Cambridge University + many US universities

17. List of some useful RSS feeds: Libraries & archives Cambridge University Library National Library of Scotland Library of Congress The National Archives (TNA) Archives Hub Access to Archives (A2A) NARA (US)

18. RSS feeds in RefWorks Useful if compiling bibliographical information for use in a reading list.

22. Hands-on

23. Automated Alert services Proactive e-resources which match a search profile against added information each time the database is updated who automatically e-mail matches to user.

24. Advantages Automatic alerts in electronic format often before libraries have received/processed their copies immediate access to online content if subscription held.

25. Alert profiles Require identification / registration Registration is free and activated immediately Alert profiles can be reviewed, updated & deleted Some: access for a limited period, can renew

26. Alert profiles Search alerts (author, title) > very basic searches!! Table of content alerts (journal)

27. List of some alerting services Databases & journals Historical Abstracts’ Clio Alerts Oxford Journals Online Cambridge Journals Online IngentaConnect Blackwell Synergy ZETOC Alert

28. List of some alerting services Archives Archives Hub Arts & Humanities Data Service (AHDS)

29. List of some alerting services Other IHR Reviews in History, History On-Line mailing list THES Research newsletter, Editorial newsletter, News Round-up British Academy e-mail bulletin JISCmail H-Net Reviews mailing list

30. Example: Cambridge Journals Online http://journals.cambridge.org/action/login

31. Example: Oxford Journals Online http://past.oxfordjournals.org/

32. Example: ZETOC Alert http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/

33. Example: Historical Abstracts

34. Find all History ejournals in TDNet Search TDNet Advanced search Limit by subject

35. Information overload: some tips Regularly review profiles and refine them if possible. Be brutal and delete profiles if not needed. User filters/rules/folders in your e-mail to redirect or sort alerts Keep registration confirmations; they often tell you how to unsubscribe.

40. Be alert yourself Oxford’s subscriptions to e-resources may change. Functionality of e-resources may change. If you are bombarded, do something about it. If you forget to use it, you may loose it. Remember all your login details!

41. Questions & Hands-on