Advertise the RSS Feed of Your Blog

Now that you have signed up for a News Reader and subscribed to some RSS feeds, it's time to start thinking of ways your library can provide RSS feeds for patrons. It's not as difficult as you might think.

All of the Web 2.0 technologies we have explored thus far automatically provide an RSS feed for your readers. If you created a Flickr account, you not only got an RSS feed for your main photostream, but you also got a feed on the page for each of your tags. If you were uploading building renovation photos with a "building" tag and children's event photos with a "children" tag, the amateur architect in your community could choose to subscribe to the Flickr feed just for the building photos, while a young parent may just subscribe to the feed for the children's events. And your greatest library supporters could subscribe to the feed for your entire photo stream.

Your Delicious account and blog also come with RSS enabled. The RSS capability of a blog makes it even  more attractive as a platform for sharing library news. Let's face it - as much as we love our library Web sites, most users are not going to visit our Web site on a regular basis. If they do visit it regularly, they may be too focused on clicking on the "library catalog" link to really give it a good look. However, if they are already using RSS, they might click on the "subscribe" link on your Web site. They will then be notified via their reader whenever something new is posted.

And you may be surprised at who in your community is using RSS. A couple of years ago, I did a blogging and RSS workshop for a group of library trustees. One of the older trustees, who needed a little extra assistance during the blogging portion of the class, was way ahead of everyone else when it came to RSS. As I started to show everyone how to set up a Bloglines account, he just looked at me blankly and said, "why don't you just use Firefox Bookmarks for that?" I don't even think he knew he was using RSS, but he certainly knew what to do when he saw that orange icon.

Although your blog automatically comes with this RSS feed, the problem is the feed isn't always advertised on your blog so that users can find it. It all depends on the theme you chose when you set up for your blog. Now is the time to check your blog to make sure there is a link to your RSS feed. It may be in the sidebar, but it also displays in the header or footer on some templates. In some templates, you will see the orange RSS icon. In other templates, you may just see a link that says RSS or subscribe. If your blog already has a link to the RSS feed, you don't need to do the following exercise. However, you may want to read further on to learn of other easy ways to use an RSS feed in your library.

Adding an RSS Link to a WordPress Blog

1. Before doing this exercise, take a look at the items currently displaying in your sidebar. Unless you already added items to this sidebar, these are the default sidebar items that come with your blog's theme. Once you customize the sidebar by adding a link to your RSS feed, the default sidebar will be overridden and all of these items will disappear. Take note of the items you want to keep in the sidebar. You will be able to re-add them after you add the RSS link.
2. Log into the administrative section of your blog.
3. Click on the Appearance link in the left sidebar.
4. Click on Widgets. 
5. You will be adding the Text Widget to your sidebar. Click on Text in the left sidebar and drag it over to the right sidebar.
   
6. Follow these instructions from the WordPress FAQs. The instructions also include a variety of RSS icons from which to choose.
• When adding this text widget, be sure to add a title that says "Subscribe to RSS feed."
• You must type out the code included in the instructions rather than copying and pasting.
  
• Make sure "your-blog-name" is replaced with your username and "image-location" is replaced with the file location for the icon you want to use.
7. Be sure to Save Changes.
8. After adding the text widgets, add any other widgets that will restore the sidebar items you lost.

Other Ways to Produce an RSS Feed for Your Library

Event Calendars - Users can subscribe to a feed of your upcoming events. RSS Calendar and Google Calendar are two free calendar programs that provide RSS capability. Many public libraries use EventKeeper for their calendars. To enable the RSS Feed in EventKeeper:

1. Log into the EventKeeper administrative interface.
2. Under Multi-Publishing, look for the RSS (Beta) heading. Click the Create button. Screenshot.
3. Give the feed a name and choose the parameters for the feed. You can create a feed for all of your events or create one for a particular keyword.
   
4. Click Create Sample Display. (Do not worry if the sample does not display.)
   
5. Click Create the XML file to be used as the RSS feed.
6. EventKeeper will provide the URL for your RSS feed and will also give you the code to put an RSS box on your Web site.  You can also click a link to automatically add the feed link to your EventKeeper calendar.
7. Once you post the feed on a Web site, you will need to return to EventKeeper to add the URL of the page where it is posted. Otherwise, the feed will be deleted within 30 days.
   

Library Catalogs & Databases

• SirsiDynix was the first major ILS vendor to incorporate RSS feeds in its Sirsi Rooms portal.
• Scriblio is an OPAC using WordPress blogging software. Check out the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth, NH. Also used in Lamson Library at Plymouth State University, which is fully utilizing the RSS feed.
• Koha is an Open Source ILS that includes RSS feeds that matches your search terms.
• AquaBrowser, a visual search interface for your catalog, also includes RSS feeds. OCLN is now using AquaBrowser.
  
• Ebsco and Gale have incorporated RSS feeds for searches in its database products.

Exploring Further

Optional Exercise

If you already feel information overload from this week, I recommend skipping this exercise because it can be a little overwhelming. But I know there are probably a few people in this class who may want to explore more uses for their RSS feed.

Feedburner is a tool that allows you to track statistics for your RSS feed. To do so, you need to actually create a new URL for your feed. You do so by going to www.feedburner.com and inserting the existing RSS feed URL in the text box on the main page. Click the Next button to get started.

In addition to statistics, you can do some really useful things with a Feedburner feed. My favorites are

• Chicklet Chooser - Located under the Publicize tab, the chicklet chooser provides code to post your new Feedburner RSS feed on your blog or Web site.
• Buzz Boost - Located under the Publicize tab, Buzz Boost allows you to republish your RSS feed on a Web page. Instead of putting a link to your blog on your home page that users need to click, you can add code to your home page that will display your most recent blog postings. For an example of Buzz Boost, visit the SEMLS home page (the news in the middle is republished from a FeedBurner feed) or the Massachusetts Performers & Programs Directory (latest additions on the right are republished from a FeedBurner feed.)
• E-mail Subscriptions - Also located under the Publicize tab. RSS feeds are a great way to reach out to users who are up on the latest technology, but we also know there are a lot of users who are not subscribing to RSS feeds yet. This feature allows users to subscribe by e-mail to your RSS feed and provides code for your to copy and paste into your blog.