Workshop description: Tired of spending your time surfing the web for current research in your humanities discipline? Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of new scholarly literature created in your field? During this hands-on workshop, we'll talk about email alerting services and RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") feeds, and how these tools can help you keep up-to-date in the humanities. Using selected library resources, such as the library catalog and library databases along the lines of MLA International Bibliography and Historical Abstracts, we'll demonstrate some strategies for collecting wide-ranging scholarly information into your email inbox and into an RSS feed reader.

1. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert! Keeping Your
Humanities Research Up-to-Date
Presented by Karen Reiman-Sendi
University Library Technology Workshop
November 2009
Stay Alert
 "One of the effects of living with
electronic information is that we live
habitually in a state of information
overload. There's always more than
you can cope with."
-Marshall McLuhan
The Best of Ideas, CBC Radio, 1967
Stay Alert
 Workshop Outline
 What are research alerts
 Alert examples using library databases
and Google
 What is RSS
 RSS example using Bloglines reader
 Q&A
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2. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert
 What are research alerts?
 Can be notification of new journal articles
or journal issue table of contents
 Can be notification of new database (or
search engine) citation alerts, based on a
search profile you create
 Alerts are emailed
Stay Alert
 Mirlyn saved search example
 http://mirlyn-classic.lib.umich.edu/
Stay Alert
 Examples of database or search
engine results alerts
 CSA (MLA Int’l Bib)
 EBSCO (America: History & Life)
 Google
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3. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert
 “Setting up a good suite of feeds can
transform inefficient, slow and
frustrating research into a powerfully
different experience.”
– Marshall Kirkpatrick
(http://marshallk.com/introduction-to-rss-
syndication/)
Stay Alert
 What is RSS?
 Really Simply Syndication (or Rich Site
Summary)
 Standard protocol that allows syndication,
that allows content to be aggregated from
multiple sources
 Will bring content to you
 Aggregator (Wikipedia); List of readers
Stay Alert
 RSS in plain English
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4. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert
 How do I read RSS feeds?
 Aggregators
 Can be web-based
 Can be browser widgets or plugins
 Can be email applications
Stay Alert
 Popular RSS feed readers
 Bloglines.com
 Google Reader
 NewsGator
 FeedDemon
Stay Alert
 Examples
 New Books
 University News Service
 UM Press New Books
 Duke University Library catalog
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5. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert
 Some databases have RSS feature
(like Short Story Index or Philosopher’s
Index); be sure to read the database
Help content
 Some search engines have RSS
feature such as Yahoo & Microsoft
Bing
Stay Alert
 Some journal web sites have new
article RSS feeds
 Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality
 Arts & Humanities in Higher Education
 Journal of the History of Collections
 Project MUSE journals
Stay Alert
 Look at your professional association
web sites for feeds
 American Academy of Religion:
http://www.aarweb.org/
 U.S. Government
 NEH: http://neh.gov/
 RSS Library:
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libr
aries/RSS_Library.shtml
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6. 12/8/2009
Stay Alert
 News sites typically have RSS feeds
 http://www.cnn.com
and http://www.nytimes.com/
Stay Alert
 Blogs have RSS feeds
 http://mblog.lib.umich.edu
and American Historical Association
blog (http://blog.historians.org/)
Stay Alert
 Questions?
 Contact me:
 Email: karsendi@umich.edu
 IM (AIM, MSN, Yahoo):
karsendi@umich.edu
 Facebook: Karen Reiman-Sendi
 Phone: 734/615-3958
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