What are RSS Feeds and E-Mail Alerts?

An RSS feed is a way to distribute (or syndicate) any type of continuously updated content on the Internet. News, blog posts, podcasts, videos, databases, journals, search results - all can have an RSS Feed. When users subscribe to such a feed, they start receiving up-to-date content immediately and are able to conveniently view it using their RSS Reader/Aggregator.

E-Mail Alerts and RSS Feeds are in a way similar. E-Mail Alerts are offered by almost all major providers as a quick and convenient way to have new search results automatically emailed to you on a regular basis. You don't need to go to the website and peform the search again, but rather get all the latest results with direct links to full text and sometimes even links for managing citations.

For more information about setting-up/using RSS Feeds and E-Mail Alerts, click on the individual questions below the video.

Following is a short video from Common Craft explaining RSS in "Plain English":

RSS Feeds
About RSS Feeds
Why are RSS Feeds useful?
How do I identify RSS Feeds?
How do I access/subscribe to RSS Feeds?
What are popular RSS Readers/Aggregators?
How do I find *Vendor RSS Feed?
What to choose - an E-Mail Alert or an RSS Feed?

E-Mail Alerts
About E-Mail Alerts
How do I subscribe to an E-Mail Alert?
How do I find *Vendor E-Mail Alert?
What to choose - an E-Mail Alert or an RSS Feed?

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