RSS feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. For example, you can get the list of latest materials in your library as soon as its published, without having to visit the library website you have taken the feed from.

Feeds are also known as RSS. RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people

Accessing an RSS feed is just like podcasting, in that you subscribe to a feed. The difference between RSS feeds and podcast feeds is that you receive text content instead of audio content.

Generally, in order to view our RSS feeds on your computer, you will first need to download and install an RSS Reader.

An alternative to downloading a dedicated RSS reader is to use a Web-based RSS reader. For example, My Yahoo! and iGoogle users can now add RSS feeds directly to their personal page.

Here is the (incomplete) list of RSS readers:

Just click on the orange button for the feed you want, copy the URL from the address bar and then paste it in the appropriate field of your RSS Reader to instantly add the list of new library materials to your RSS application. The lists are automatically updated once a day 7 days a week.

You may notice a slight difference between the contents of the new materials lists in your library on-line catalogue and your RSS feeds. This is easily explained. The lists of new materials in your library on-line catalogue are updated in real time. As soon as the librarian adds a new title to the list it appears in the on-line catalogue. The RSS feeds are only updated once a day (very early in the morning). This means that the new titles added during the day will appear on the RSS feeds next morning.