Libraries News Feeds (RSS, XML, Atom)
News feeds allow library users to subscribe to specific types of news offered through the University of Minnesota Libraries. A news feed, also known an RSS or Atom feed, is an XML based document that is read by a news reader (or an "aggregator"). On a periodic basis your news reader will contact the news feed and download anything new that is provided by the feed. Usually a feed will provide a shorter version of the new item and provide a link to the web page in order to view the full entry for that item. In order to subscribe to a news feed you must install a news reader. Once you have a news reader installed, you may subscribe to any of these feeds provided by the University Libraries:
- News from the Libraries (visit the News from the Libraries blog)
- Recently Added Licensed Resources (Libraries wide)
- Events at the University Libraries (old events feed)
- Library News from the St. Paul Campus Libraries
- Science and Engineering Library News and Events
- Recent Additions to UThink: Blogs at the University Libraries
- Chronicle of Higher Education
- The Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory gives you the option of searching for journals that offer RSS feeds. Select Advanced Search - then check the RSS Available option.
Off-campus Feed Access
Do you have licensed RSS content that you can't get to from off campus because the feed doesn't recognize you as coming from the U of M? Convert the RSS URL to a U of M recognized RSS feed using the RSS URL Converter and get access from both on campus and off!
RSS Feeds for Saved Databases, Saved E-Journals, and Items Checked Out
If you have saved library databases and e-journals to myLibrary you can turn your lists into RSS feeds. Just look for the RSS icon (
) in the corner of individual myLibrary sections. Click on the RSS icon and create your feed! You can also copy your saved databases and e-journals to iGoogle as widgets.
In addition, myLibrary also gives you the option of turning the items you have checked out from the library into an RSS feed or widget. One benefit of this service is that it gives you the opportunity to create and maintain a historical list of checked out library items in your RSS aggregator.
Broad Subject Feeds
Find out about recently added licensed resources in these broad subjects on the U of M Libraries web site.
- Agriculture, Biology, and Ecology
- Arts and Humanities
- Business and Economics
- Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences
- Health and Medicine
- Social Sciences
Specific Subject Feeds 
Find out about recently added resources of all types in these specific subjects on the U of M Libraries web site.
Download and Install a News Reader
Borrowed from About Feeds (RSS, XML, and Atom)We don't have an official preference, but we can list some of the most popular news readers.
For web-based feed readers, many people choose Bloglines or Google Reader, both of which are free services designed specifically for reading feeds. My Yahoo! allows you to subscribe to feeds and have them display within your custom page as well.
If you prefer a feed reading program that you can install on your computer, you can use FeedDemon or NewsGator for Microsoft Outlook if you're on Microsoft Windows. If you're on a Macintosh running OS X, a popular feed reader is NetNewsWire, which can also connect to the web-based services.
Mac users can also use the built-in support for feeds in the Safari web browser in OS X 10.4, and Microsoft Windows users will have support for feeds in the upcoming version 7 of Internet Explorer. Anyone using the Mozilla Firefox web browser has support for feeds built-in, as well.
PC and Mac users may also use the free email client Mozilla Thunderbird to subscribe to news feeds.