Home > Electronic Library 24/7 > About RSS

About RSS

Numerous online resources offered through the Santa Clara County Library web site include RSS options. Using RSS, you may learn when articles on subjects you identify become available in those resources.

What is RSS?

RSS is the acronym for Really Simple Syndication, and it is the technology used in creating feeds. Using RSS, one may feed content into his Internet browser’s RSS menu, into web sites he logs into such as iGoogle or Bloglines, or into other RSS readers. Regardless of the RSS tool he selects, the benefit he will gain by using RSS is that content from his favorite sites will be fed into it. He no longer must check each favorite web site individually to determine if new information has been added there. He instead can look in a single location to determine if new content exists, gain descriptive data, and obtain links to the content.

Numerous sites, including the library web site, offer information that can be fed to you through RSS. News, blog, photo sharing, social networking, and other sites support RSS.

How Does It Work?

This first step in using RSS is selecting a tool for viewing feeds. Internet browsers have built-in RSS readers. Feed readers are also available when you create a free account in a web site such as iGoogle, Google Reader, Bloglines, or My Yahoo.

Once you select your tool, determine which web sites you wish to track. Then, go to each of the web sites. At each site, click on its link or button corresponding to RSS. Buttons and links will typically be labeled "RSS", "ATOM", or "XML". The two most commonly used buttons are and .

Different steps are now followed depending on the tool you selected.

If you create a free account in iGoogle, Bloglines, or another provider's web site, an option will be presented allowing you to supply an RSS feed's URL. (Another name for a URL is "web address".) The URL you need is that of the page you are shown after clicking on the RSS link. After supplying the URL to Bloglines (or iGoogle, or My Yahoo), information from the site you wish to track will be fed into your free customizable account. Track numerous sites within your account by returning to it and logging in with your username and password.

If you wish to track feeds within a menu in your Internet browser, please look toward the top of the page you are brought to after clicking on the RSS link. Internet browser examples include Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 7 will be used here to exemplify how RSS feeds can be tracked through Internet browsers. After clicking on the RSS link described above, click on the subsequent "Subscribe to this feed" link. Now, click on your browser’s image of a yellow star.  The image is in the left corner, below the back button. Then, click on the “Feeds" orange button, which is at the top of the now apparent menu. You will see your feed’s title listed in the menu.  The feed title is a link.  Click on it to view a list of new articles available at that site.  Click on an article title to view the article. In the feed menu, a feed title will be presented in bold characters if new articles are available. Set up feeds from all of your favorite sites in this manner, whether they are news sites, blog sites, photo sharing sites, or other. Then, check your browser's feed menu periodically to see if new content is available at any of those sites. Access the new content through the menu. The library web site offers numerous feeds through its Electronic Library online databases, its blog, and its calendar.

What feeds does Santa Clara County Library provide?

Content created by library staff:

Our Library Blog offers an RSS feed. The blog provides information about library news, services, resources, and other information.

The Library Calendar feed provides dates, times, locations, and information about the library's programs and events. The calendar is customizable. Use options in its left column to create a calendar that fits your needs. For example, you can select a library and an age group to derive a calendar displaying only those events that pertain to those qualifications. After applying limits and clicking the "Find" button, you will see the RSS Feed button at the top of the now apparent page. Although the instructions provided here will enable you to use the calendar feed, please note that selecting fewer event qualifications will make the feed operate best.

Content supplied by vendors:

The library offers numerous online databases and resources that include RSS feeds. These feeds function as alerts by letting you know when content on subjects of interest are available in the databases. This alert system saves you the step of checking each database for new content individually. Once you receive the alert, you can go to the library web site and log into the associated database (with your library card number and PIN) to gain access to the information of interest. To learn more about the online databases and other electronic resources, please click here. Databases provide access to online copies of thousands of newspapers, magazines, journals, and other items.

Online databases that offer RSS feeds include: Access Science, MasterFile Premier, Business Source, Academic Search Complete, Science Reference Center, History Reference Center, and Literary Reference Center.

When you log into a database, you typically may locate a feed by finding the buttons or links described above. Example buttons are and .

iGoogle in combination with MasterFile Premier will be used here to exemplify how RSS feeds can be generated through databases and then tracked.

MasterFile Premier will notify you when a new article is added into an online database that contains search terms you specified ahead of time. Following these steps will enable you to achieve this:

1. First, enter search terms (keywords) into the search box that is displayed prominently on the database's homepage. Click the "Search" button to query the database.
   
   
2. The next page will contain a list of articles related to the search terms you entered. Click on the RSS icon that is provided at the top of the search results list: .
   
   
3. You will be brought to a page containing an RSS feed URL (see description above).  The URL is located to the right of the heading, "Syndication Feed."  Copy the RSS feed URL into memory (use your cursor to highlight it and use the browser’s Edit menu to select the Copy option).  Then, click the "Okay" button.
   
   
4. Add the URL to the iGoogle RSS feed entry box mentioned above (left click in the box, and in the browser’s Edit menu, select Paste).  When articles matching your search terms are added to the EBSCO database, their titles will now be presented to you on your iGoogle page.
   
   
5. If you wish to add the feed to an Internet Explorer 7 browser rather than to iGoogle, click on the RSS URL mentioned in Step 3.  Next, click on the link, “Subscribe to this feed.”  Finally, return to the EBSCO page and click the “Okay” button.
   
   
6. Note: This feed will expire if one does not use it once within the first week of its creation.  After that, one must use it at least once every two months for the feed to remain active.
   
   
7. Additional instructions pertaining to MasterFile Premier are available at the vendor web site.