As a librarian, my job is to promote resources and services at my library. Therefore, I am always amazed when I discover new things that we have to offer.
I’ve heard about RSS features within the different electronic databases, but I really never took the time to explore them. I knew you could subscribe to search results and receive relevant articles on that topic as they are published. I never got too excited about this feature since I feel it usually takes multiple steps to locate relevant articles on many topics.
Lately, however, I stumbled upon a more attractive use of these RSS feeds within the databases. I like to browse through certain paper journals as they arrive at the library. Recently, I learned that I can subscribe to journal titles through some of our electronic databases. When a new issue becomes available, the articles are sent to my feed reader. I can them browse through the titles and abstracts and save the articles that I’m interested in reading. I love this option! Not only does this provide me with access to journals that we don’t have a paper subscription to, but it also makes it much more convenient to stay on top of the latest research and save articles that are of interest to me.
There’s nothing like discovering something that you already own. I guess it’s kind of like finding $5.00 in your pocket that you didn’t know was there!
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Yes! Journal Alerts! I have done a few tutorial sessions on this short topic as a way to promote "lif-long-learing" and scholarly communication. I also made a pdf tutorial/handout for my internship and used it for our handouts assignment in Ed of Info Users class.
ReplyDeleteI have not utilized this feature at all but now that you posted it, I am certainly going to go out and see what my library has to offer!! I love the idea of getting journal article updates. You are right, in that it would save time having to search through the journals. Also, cut down the time it takes to get the journal in your hands and start thumbing through it! Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteI love the possibilities with this feature! (Journal Alerts). We've talked some in my Social Science course about how many social scientists prefer to get their information from journals...a service such as this would be perfect for them! It sounds fantastic, both for active researchers and those who just want to stay current in a particular field!
ReplyDeleteOk so I am really intrigued by this feature. I have never heard of it, but it definitely sounds like I should have when you combine two ever-popular things like e-journals and RSS. Alison, can you give me an idea how to get started with subscribing to a journal? Do you do it from IU Library's webpage, through the actual journal you have found through IU, or through the journal's actual website? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI came across this feature (now I know it's called Journal Alerts) from within a database. For instance, if you go into an EBSCO database and click on the "Publications" search at the top, you can locate any journal title and then click on the orange RSS icon next to it to subscribe to that journal. It's that easy. You have to look around to figure out if different databases offer it. I also know that you can go to certain journal's websites and subscribe through them too. I'm not sure if you have easy access to the full-text that way, but I subscribe to some journals that my library does not have access to and then I can ILL any articles that I'd like to read.
ReplyDeleteI have used different news readers and now pretty much stick with Google Reader. I subscribe to quite a few things - newspapers, magazines, blogs - and feel like I can never keep up. It used to be easier but they redesigned their setup and I haven't been able to revert to the older look.
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