RSS Feeds

What is an RSS feed? Depending on who you ask it stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Survey, or some other variation, but mostly it's a way for you to "subscribe" to content from all of your favorite websites at once (at least the ones that offer RSS) and have it delivered automatically to one place on your computer.

In order to subscribe to an RSS feed, you need access to a piece of software called an RSS aggregator or "feed reader". This program collects the content from all of the RSS feeds that you subscribe to and displays the information much like an e-mail program.

RSS aggregator software can be directly installed on your computer (there are dozens of free programs available to be downloaded from the internet click here for a short list), installed in your browser, or you can sign up with a web-based service such as the popular Bloglines to set up an RSS account that can be accessed from any computer. Once you have either installed your program or signed in to a web-based program, you can subscribe to whichever RSS feeds interest you from across the internet. Web sites that offer RSS feeds will often display one of these icons:

A web site may have a single RSS feed, or larger sites (like the New York Times, for example) will have dozens of different RSS feeds so you can subscribe to an individual subject or topic that interests you.

Library RSS Feeds

To subscribe to a feed, click on the orange RSS icon of the feed below.

RPL monthly newsletter

Reference Blog

Business Blog

 

Please call or e-mail us if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future RSS content from the library.

RSS aggregator sites

Listed below are a few popular sites you can visit to access or download RSS software from your home computer. These are only a few of the many programs available on the web.

By clicking any of the weblinks below, you will be leaving Rochester Public Library's computer system to connect to computer servers around the world. RPL assumes no responsibility for the quality, accuracy, authenticity, currency, authorship of information or safety of downloading (and/or accessing) software from any Internet resource.

Bloglines
Dogpile Search Tool
FeedReader
Google Reader
NewsDesk
NewsGator
RSS Bandit
RSSOwl
RSS Reader
Sage
Sharp Reader
Snarfer