MeL Minute

Using RSS Feed Alerts in Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete from MeL is an eResource that patrons can use to do research. With academic journals, magazines, newspapers, and trade publications at their fingertips, it’s easier than ever to find credible sources to better understand science, social issues, and the humanities. Popular publications such as Public Library of Science One (PLoS One), New Scientist, Educational Leadership, and the American Journal of Public Health are available full text, each offering a variety of high-level content over a wide breadth of subject areas.

One of my favorite features is the ability to create an RSS Feed for a specific publication or keyword search and receive a notification when a new issue of a publication or articles on that topic are published. To keep current in the library profession, I have publication alerts set for new issues of publications such as Library Journal and Computers in Libraries and search alerts for topics such as creating a Library of Things and Book Bikes.

Setting up an alert for a publication:

• Create a free EBSCO account and sign into it
• Click on Publications in the blue menu bar at the top of the page
• Search for publications of interest
• On the search results page, click on the orange RSS Feed icon next to the journal title
• A box will pop up to set preferences such as whether you want to receive the alert as a general publication link or a table of contents with a link for each article

Setting up an alert for a keyword search:

• Create a free EBSCO account and sign into it
• Use the Search box on the landing page to find topics of interest
• On the right side of the search results, click on Share
• Click the orange RSS Feed icon in the drop-down menu
• A box will pop up to set preferences such as whether you want to receive the alert as a general publication link or a table of contents with a link for each article

Once you have set your preferences, you will receive a confirmation email from EBSCO that includes a URL. The URL can be added to RSS Feed email settings or feed reader to organize the alerts.

RSS feed notifications are a feature of most MeL EBSCO eResources and you can easily modify your alerts within your EBSCO folder. Want to know more about RSS feeds? Open the Help menu in Academic Search Complete and search “RSS” to learn more and see screenshots of the set-up process.

If you are having any issues linking to items on this page, please explore the MeL eResource Access Page. Contact melerhelp@mcls.org for help.

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