Fetch!

As mentioned earlier, RSS has some great applications for libraries. One of my favourites is the ability to set up feeds for journal contents alerts and also searches from journal databases. I love the little orange icon!! I subscribe to a range of feeds from journals of interest from EBSCO databases. We already subscribe to these databases and RSS reader software is free - so, for a low investment (awareness raising and training) we can deliver real value to our clients. And, it's leveraging the investment we've already made on our database subscriptions. I wonder how many libraries are educating their clients on how to use RSS feeds and journal databases to create tailored alerts to content that they can't get for free on the web.
When we guide clients through a database search, do we mention that they can set up an automated regular search and view the results through their reader?

The second application that I like is the ability to subscribe to new titles information from library catalogues. Even though I'm not a client of theirs, I subscribe to new titles from a few university library catalogues on subjects of interest. Clients can set up their own subject profile and new title information is delivered automatically to their reader. Again, I doubt this would entail a great deal of effort for the library once it was set up. And in the case of a deposit library - like us - this would be really valuable for our researchers.