[WEB4LIB] RE: Software to Access RSS feeds in e-journal database

[Joseph Murphy]

We're very interested in encouraging our community to use RSS feeds... 
and one of the ways I plan to do that is to openly advocate against 
stand-alone aggregator applications. I just can't justify throwing 
another app at my users, and all the overhead that entails. This is, 
after all, basically a gateway to Web information, so it seems logical 
to integrate it into the user's existing Web activity.

(That's a high-concept way of saying "downloaded NetNewsWire Lite, 
spent some time messing with it, it didn't fit into my regular routine 
so I never opened it again, expect my faculty would do the same.")

I can see an online aggregator like Bloglines being a really good 
option, especially in multi-user (or mobile user) environments. For 
myself, though, I'm getting a lot more use out of the RSS Bookmarks 
("Live Bookmarks") in Firefox. You only get the headlines, but that's 
enough to tell me whether I want to load the whole site. I only watch 
feeds I really care about, and I check them 2 or 3 times a day.

Supposedly, a similar ability will be built into Safari when 10.4 comes 
out; I'd have to assume this option in Firefox will eventually leap 
into Mozilla. I expect the Big Blue E won't want to be too far behind.

Joe Murphy
Librarian and Technology Consultant
Library and Information Services
Kenyon College
murphyjm at kenyon.edu
740/427-5120

On Nov 4, 2004, at 12:32 PM, K.G. Schneider wrote:

>> What software do you use for your RSS feeds?
>> Is that software pre-installed on all library machines so that people
>> can get to the RSS feeds?
>
> Gloryoski, just this morning I rewrote the Librarians' Index RSS 
> tutorial,
> which is based on Bloglines, a free, Web-based RSS reader. See:
>
> http://lii.org/search/file/liirss/
>
> There are any number of good aggregators around, including other 
> Web-based
> readers. The advantage of promoting Web-based aggregators to your 
> public
> users is obvious. Or maybe it's not obvious and I should point out 
> that you
> don't have to install or update anything, and they can go home or go to
> another library and get their feeds there as well.