Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Blog

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, and RDF Site Summary. RSS is a way to receive the newest updates from all your favorite web sites and databases without having to visit each web site and database individually. The RSS feed provides a short description of newly added content. You can then click on the feed description to be taken to the full content on the original web site or database. Subscribe to RSS feeds for all your favorite sites, and view all the updates on one web page.

The first step to using RSS is to set up an RSS reader (also called “feed readers” or “aggregators”). There are many different kinds of feed readers—some can even be installed on your cell phone or PDA! Some available options include:

• Bloglines
• iGoogle
• RSS readers are built into the web browsers Firefox 1.0 (and all subsequent versions) and Internet Explorer 7.0.

The Library does not endorse or provide technical support for any RSS readers. To find one that fits your needs, search the Web using the words “free RSS reader.”

Once you have set up an RSS reader, it’s time to start subscribing to feeds. RSS feeds can be used to facilitate searching, keep up with new research, and stay abreast of resources and events at UCLA. Many web sites have orange RSS icons to indicate that the site includes an RSS feed. See the list below for some great places to start. On any site, click on the RSS icon () and follow the instructions to subscribe.

• The UCLA Library has created a Recent Acquisitions RSS Service which offers RSS feeds for nearly 80 subjects. These feeds provide information on new books purchased by the UCLA Libraries.

• Visit the UCLA Gateway RSS Feeds and Podcasts page to view the many RSS feeds of UCLA events and happenings. Subscribe to the Daily Bruin’s headline feed for news, the Happenings feed to find out about concerts, lectures, and sports, or one of the many social activity feeds to keep up with your friends.

• Perform a search in PubMed, and then click on the “send to” pull down box and select “RSS feed.” Name your feed, click “create,” then subscribe to the feed. The search will be automatically re-run each time you open your RSS reader.

• CINAHL Plus, a nursing database, will also allow you to save a search as an RSS feed. After performing a search, click “create alert for this search” and subscribe. The search will be automatically re-run each time you open your RSS reader.

• Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, and Zoological Record, three of our largest life sciences databases, allow registered users to create RSS feeds for citation alerts. Your feed is updated whenever the article is cited by another author. To do this, run a search in one of these databases, and click on the full record for the desired article. Click  and subscribe to the RSS feed. 

• Access Medicine is a collection of e-books, images, care guidelines, and drug information for those in the health care field. The Access Medicine RSS feed is updated daily and includes reviews, updates to e-books, and breakthroughs in therapy and clinical research. Click the RSS icon on the front page of Access Medicine to subscribe.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Technology, Life Sciences, Medicine, Resources, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.