NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 28 number 2 - Winter 2007

Staying Current at the Libraries

By Josh Boyer, Research and Information Services, and Karen Ciccone, Natural Resources Library

The NCSU Libraries offers various services that provide alerts to make it easier than ever for library patrons to keep current with information in their fields. Patrons can receive alerts when new issues of journals are published, when new books are added to the Libraries' collection, and when new articles are published on specific topics.

Library news, new book alerts, journal tables of contents, and search alerts are available via "Rich Site Summary" syndication (also known as "Really Simple Syndication" or RSS) feeds. The RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to information from their favorite sources to receive new content as soon as it is published. The feeds are read using a reader such as Google Reader, Bloglines, or any of many others freely available on the Web. For more information about using RSS, send a request to a librarian at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/libref/.

The Libraries provides feeds covering news of interest to library patrons--library events, workshops, new book titles, new faculty publications, and new resources and services. These feeds are accessible at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/newsblogs.html. Additionally, an RSS feed that tracks announcements and discussions related to the Learning Commons can be found at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/learningcommons/. The "Talk" area on the Learning Commons site serves as an interesting focal point of public discussion about the physical library space, and this can be monitored easily with the site's RSS feed.

The Libraries' catalog also recently became RSS-enabled. Patrons may conduct any search, then set up an RSS feed to track new titles that match their search criteria. This is a terrific way to learn about new items available at the library as soon as they appear in the catalog. More information is available at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/rss.html.

My Alerts is another way to keep up with new material. Through this service, library patrons can sign up for notification of new journal content. After selecting journals of interest, patrons can opt to receive electronic-mail notices containing each new issue's table of contents, including links to the online articles when those are available. Alternatively, patrons can subscribe to RSS feeds for the tables of contents of journals. Access the My Alerts service more by clicking on the "My Alerts" link on the Libraries’ home page.

Many of the databases available through the Libraries also have alerting features, sometimes known as SDIs (Selective Dissemination of Information). Different databases handle their alert services in different ways, but all share similar functionality. Typically, users must create personal accounts within given database platforms. Saved searches and alerts can then be maintained through these accounts. Users can save their search histories so that complex searches do not need to be re-created, and they can set up electronic mail and RSS alerts for these searches so they are notified when relevant new items are added to the database.

Librarians are happy to work with patrons to set up search alerts. Please let the Libraries know what you think of these new services. For more information or for help setting up alerts, go to the link at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/libref.