RSS is a format for delivering information on sites that update regularly.
It has advantages over email because you do not have to sign up for access to feeds. Instead you subscribe by entering the url for the feed into your chosen method of access.
Most news services and many blogs or other sites updating regularly provide rss feeds. Many Library databases also provide journal table of contents and search results by rss feed.
You can read RSS feeds in a number of ways, including using feed readers, web browsers and Microsoft Outlook. See below for instructions on how to set them up.
Feed readers are software designed to read RSS feeds. Both web based and desktop versions are available.
Web based readers
Web based readers are available anywhere you can access a web browser. Many also provide apps for mobile devices.
Desktop readers
These download and store items so you can view articles in feeds without a web browser or internet connection. You can also subscribe to password protected feeds (not always available in web readers).
It is very easy to add RSS feeds to the desktop version of Microsoft Outlook.
Look for the RSS icon on a webpage and right click to copy the url for the feed
In Outlook, in the Mail Navigation Pane, right-click RSS Feeds (Outlook 2013) or RSS Subscriptions (Outlook 2016), and then click Add a New RSS Feed
In the dialog box that appears, paste the address you copied earlier into the box, click Add, and click Yes.
Note you cannot add feeds in the online version of Outlook. Instead see options to add feeds to your browser.
Chrome does not provide an inbuilt RSS feed option. You can find a number of extensions through the Chrome Web Store by searching for the term RSS.
To add RSS feeds to Internet Explorer or Firefox:
Firefox
Feeds will appear in the RSS feed folder on your bookmark bar. Choose a feed to view from the list.
The headlines for that feed will appear on the left of your bookmark bar as a ticker. Click on the down arrow to see the list of all unread items on the feed:
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