RSS from the ACC DR

You can subscribe to the RSS feed of each repository in order to get notifications whenever something new is added. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication. Both of these names are correct and both can be used. It is a way to be notified whenever the content of a webpage is updated.

First you need to have a location or a system that will notify you with every update. This system is called “aggregator”. After having an aggregator you should set a connection between the website (ACC Digital Repository) and the aggregator. So basically you should look for some data that will be added to the aggregator. This data is called “feed”. A feed is a file document, usually in XML format, associated with an updated website.

Where can I find a feed?

In each repository in the middle of the page there is an orange RSS icon . This is the RSS feed.

Subscribing to the feed

To subscribe to a feed, you must know the URL of the feed data file. To get the URL, follow the steps below:

1. Make sure you are inside one of the digital repositories.
2. Click on the RSS Button . A new page opens. (Don't worry about the content of the page).
3. Copy the URL (address) of that page, by selecting it then clicking on the Edit menu of the browser > Copy.
   The URL (address) is the XML Link, as shown in the image below:
   

Now you need to add the URL you copied to an aggregator.

Setting up an RSS aggregator

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is an RSS aggregator. To start subscribing to the feeds in Outlook 2007, follow the below steps:

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Outlook 2007
   
   Note: If you've never used Outlook before then you need to configure your account before using the RSS feature. to learn how to configure your Outlook account click here.
    
2. Go to Tools > Account Settings.
3. Account Settings pop-up window will open. Select the RSS Feeds tab.
4. Click on New.
5. Paste the XML link and click on ADD.
6. Specify a name to this feed. Ex: "ACC Digital Material"
7. Keep everything else as default.
   
   Note: It is recommended not to select the options: "Automatically download enclosures for this feed" and "Download the full article as an .html attachment to each item." If you select these options, all the content of the feed will be downloaded into your account.
    
8. Click on OK.
9. Click on Close.

On the left hand side of the outlook application, under the Mail Folders there is a folder with the name: RSS Feeds.
Click on the "+" sign to expand it. Click on the sub folder named as in step 4 above, and on the right hand side, you see a list of the new entries that have been added to the repository. To see a preview of the entry, click on its title.