The NCSU Libraries maintains several newsblogs providing information relevant to specific library locations and/or subject areas, for example, the branch libraries, the Special Collections Research Center, or Government Information Services. Listed in the column to the right, these searchable blogs include regular updates on new books and other resources. Many of them also include announcements related to services, events, and training opportunities. You are currently reading a post in the Libraries' main newsblog.

You can monitor the blogs that interest you either by visiting them regularly or by subscribing to them through a feed reader. Feed readers, which are also known as "news aggregators" or "RSS readers," retrieve syndicated content for you, saving you the time and effort needed to check websites of interest for updates. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are typically available for websites that change or add content frequently, such as magazines/newspapers and blogs.

To subscribe to a news feed, follow these two steps:

I. First, get a feed reader. There are basically four different ways of reading feeds:

1) Through standalone desktop applications, separate from your Web browser and e-mail client. Many free and open source feed readers can be downloaded from the Web, including these.

2) By receiving feeds in your e-mail account, e.g. in Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client or by using rssWatcher .

3) Through Web-based aggregators that allow you to monitor your feeds from any Web-connected computer. For example, Bloglines and NewsAlloy.

4) Through plug-ins for your Web browser, such as Sage for Mozilla's Firefox browser, and Pluck for Internet Explorer.

There are numerous options in each category. Many lists of news aggregators are available online, for instance, the "list of news aggregators" entry in Wikipedia.

II. Next, add one or more NCSU Libraries news feeds to your reader: Click on the orange RSS button next to the newsblog of your choice, then copy and paste the URL into the feed reader.

If you need assistance, please Ask a Librarian.