What is RSS?

And How Do I Use It?

RSS stands for "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication".

RSS is a method for distributing regularly changing content to a large group of subscribers. Thus, as a specific news or events site is updated, the subscribers are notified of the updated content via its RSS feed. People don't have to routinely visit a website to check for new information, they only have to subscribe to the RSS feed which will then alert them when there is a change.

In the case of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Event Calendar, you can subscribe to a list of the current week's events and as that changes, updates will display automatically on your desktop, in your feed reader or on your iGoogle/My Yahoo! homepage.

To use RSS feeds, you need an RSS Reader (also called an Aggregator). There are many options available: you can download an RSS reader to your desktop (e.g. http://www.feedreader.com/), install a plug-in for your Web browser, add the feed to an RSS reader on the web (e.g. Google Reader), or add the feed to your igoogle or My Yahoo! home page. (For more information on RSS see http://www.rss-specifications.com/.)

How do I subscribe to a CLP RSS feed?

Go to our list of RSS Feeds and click on the next to the feed that you would like to subscribe to. Copy the URL from the web page that is goes to and paste it into your RSS feed reader. (Alternatively, right click on the RSS Feed icon and copy the shortcut. Paste the shortcut into your RSS feed reader.)

If you would like to quickly add the RSS feed to your Google Reader or iGoogle home page, click on the icon and follow the on-screen instructions. If you would like to add it to your My Yahoo! page, click on the icon and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you have any problems, please let us know.