Ohio University Libraries News and Events

What in the world is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a web technology that allows you to subscribe and receive content updates from many of your favorite websites and blogs.

Why would I want to use it?
RSS allows you to be notified when new content appears on a website, blog, or news page. Basically, this means that you can get new content as it is posted to a site without actually having to visit the site. In other words, it is an easy way to manage, customize, and receive information that interests you and it can also save you a great deal of time.

What sites have RSS feeds?
RSS is gaining in popularity. CNN, ESPN, Business Week, and The Ohio Univeristy Libraries Newsblog, all have RSS feeds.

How do I know if my favorite sites have an RSS Feed?
Look for the following:

• An icon that looks like this:
• A button that looks like this:
• A link, usually on the side or the bottom of the page that says “Syndicate this Site” or “Subscribe with RSS”.
• Or any other icon, text, or button that mentions “subscribe”, “RSS”, or “syndicate”.

Great, How do I get Started?
First you will need to get an RSS reader, which will allow you to receive RSS feeds from web sites. There are several options available. If you are just getting started, Bloglines is a great option for those new to RSS. It is a free, web-based RSS reader, so you can read your RSS feeds from any computer with an Internet connection.

If you prefer a desktop reader, there are several different options. A few of them are:

• Sharpreader
  A free desktop application that allows you to look at news feeds in an easy-to-use three-pane interface.
• FeedDemon
  A very sophisticated desktop RSS application. Although not free, you can demo the product for 30 days.
• Pluck
  Desktop software that operates inside an Internet Explorer window.
• Sauce Reader
  Another desktop aggregator that uses the three-pane interface. Free for personal use.

I have my reader, so how can I find other interesting RSS feeds?
There are several search engines and directories for RSS feeds. Here are a few:

• Bloglines Most Popular Blogs
• Feedster RSS Search Engine
• Syndic8.com
• NewsIsFree
• DayPop- A Current Events/Weblog/News Search Engine

Good news!!! Alumni who live in Ohio still have access to many valuable library resources. Through the Libraries Connect Ohio project (OhioLINK, INFOhio, OPLIN and the State Library of Ohio), a core set of research databases have been made available to all Ohio residents. The list of databases includes:

• AccessScience
• The AMICO Library
• EBSCOhost collection (24 databases)
• Annals of American History
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Collection
• Chadwyck Healey Literature Collection (14 databases)
• NewsBank Newspapers
• Ohio Landsat 7 Satellite Images
• Oxford Reference Online Premium Collection
• Sanborn Fire Insurance maps
• LearningExpressLibrary

Researchers may access these resources via OPLIN (Ohio Public Library Information Network) at www.oplin.org You will need the number from your public library card in order to authenticate. If you do not have a public library card, then that’s a great excuse to stop by your local public library to see what you’ve been missing.

Happy searching!

Library patrons now have another option to contact a reference librarian, as Ohio University Libraries is now offering reference via Instant Messaging. This service will compliment the Libraries’ phone, online chat, email, and in-person services. With this service, patrons can contact a reference librarian with the most popular IM services: AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo! Messenger, or MSN Messenger. Users can access the IM service or any of the Ask-A-Librarian services by clicking on the logo in the top-right of any library web page.

Athens County’s Land and People: A Bicentennial Exhibit is the subject of a new exhibit in Alden Library’s Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center. The exhibit, which celebrates the founding of Athens County in 1805, opened in early July.

The exhibit explores continuities and changes in life and living over two centuries and more in Athens County. The exhibit emphasizes the land and people who have made the county community their home. By seeing government records, books, diaries, photographs, maps and more, viewers can learn about the county’s land and people from both earlier times and more recent times. Items used include

• A map showing the original county boundaries compared to the present boundaries
• Early Journal records of the Athens County Commissioners
• A scrapbook of news articles on Depression-era relief efforts in the county
• A masters’ thesis showing changes in the Gillett family farm on Strouds Run Road
• A photograph of Sharpsburg in 1940 with very few trees in the background
• County highway maps from 1935 and 2001
• Articles from Athens Messenger columnists Charles Harris and C.H. Bartlett and commentaries by broadcaster Fred Palmer
• A poem on bricks in Athens by poet Hollis Summers
• Information on local manufacturing in 1972 when the newest Athens National Bank, now Bank One, opened
• An account plus pictures of earlier Richland Avenue bridges over the Hocking River
• An assessment by diarist Wesley Young of Confederate raider John Morgan’s visit to Nelsonville in 1863

“In the mid-19th century,” says George Bain, head of the Mahn Center, “salt production was a leading industry. By the mid-20th century, the coal boom had come and mostly gone.”

“The magnitude of the changes in our lives happens in a subtle fashion,” Bain adds.” Grandmother Maria Foster Brown rode horses in the 1800s while Alvin Adams grew up riding in his mother’s Model A Ford in the 1900s. Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Nelsonville is now Doctor’s Hospital, and local volunteers in Athens have planted flowers at major street intersections for nearly twenty years. This exhibit has many stories to tell.”

The exhibit may be viewed in the foyer area and inside the Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections on the fifth floor of Alden Library. It will be in place until mid-September.

Early summer and the new fiscal year has brought with it a number of changes to the selection of online databases available to Ohio University.

The statistical database A Matter of Fact has been cancelled and removed from InfoTree. Many other statistical databases remain, however. There is a new statistical source, World Data Analyst, which gives basic data on the countries of the world.

SocINDEX, a new database for sociology, has superseded Sociological Abstracts. For the time being at least, the latter will remain available, although it will not be updated past this June.

The MLA International Bibliography and MLA Directory of Periodicals have moved to the Ebsco interface, the same one used by Academic Search Premier and many other databases.

Due to extra funding, American National Biography and Learning Express Library are now more widely available than previously. Their interfaces have not changed.

There are also three new full-text primary source databases: American Civil War: Letters and Diaries, Black Thought and Culture, and North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories