Page 93 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Information Sources and Services

Notes Start by navigating to the journal’s home page. Conducting an Internet search will usually get
you there the quickest, or navigate from the Library’s E-journals list (if there are several links,
choose the one that goes directly to that journal’s publisher, if possible).
Whether you want to set up an email alert or an RSS feed to get updated content for a journal,
expect that you might need to poke around a bit on the journal’s website to look for the links that
will help you set up these features. Usually these links are quite obvious, but be aware that
different publishers organize their sites differently, and may use slightly different terminology
to describe these services.

Example: Setting up an email alert to monitor new content in the journal Science
The main page of the journal Science has a link to “Alerts” on the blue bar across the top
of the page. Clicking that link will result in a page with a list of different email alerts that
you can set up, and a button to “Add/Edit/Delete Alerts.” Click that button and then sign
in with your Science login and password. If you don’t have one, then you will have to click
on the link to “Register” and go through the process of registering in order to set up a
login and password.
Once you have logged in, you can select which alerts you want to receive, such as the
weekly table of contents of Science. Click on the “Submit” button once you have made
your selections, and you should be all set to receive regular email alerts.

Example: Subscribing to an RSS feed to monitor new content in the journal Science
The main page of the journal Science has a link to “Alerts” on the blue bar across the top
of the page which you should click; on the Alerts page, you will see a link to “RSS Feeds
XML” in the left column under the section called “User Tools.” Click this link and then
choose the feed you want by clicking on the feed and copying the URL of the resulting
page. Now open your feed reader and look for options to add a new feed (in Google
Reader, click on the link to “Add subscription.” You will be prompted to paste in the URL
of your feed, which is the URL you just copied.
Web sites that offer RSS feeds often have quick links to some of the most commonly used
feed readers, so that you can quickly access and add the feed to your reader without
copying the URL (you will still be prompted to log in to your reader.)
Once you have added some feeds to your reader, explore a bit. Feed readers have a variety
of options for organizing your feeds into folders, marking off items after you have read
them (so you know what you have read and what you still need to read), sorting items in
your feed by date, unsubscribing from feeds, etc.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. An .......................... contains user-requested content such as a reminder (important), a
notification (urgent), and ultimately an alert (important and urgent).

2. .......................... service will alert you when a chosen author or article has been cited by
another.
3. Setting up a .............................. requires free registration with the publisher, vendor, or
database provider offering the service.
4. A ............................ is a personal web space where you can log in and view your subscriptions
to various types of content.

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