module 3 Topic 2- google alerts

I looove Google alerts! The best thing is that updated mail is only sent if something new is reported so it is a very efficient way to keep tabs on a particular subject, event, person etc without having to trawl through all the old history.

My search originally started with "metastatic melanoma" but as I was only really interested in the developments concerning Dr John Pollock, I used his name as my "feed alert".Unfortunately, I could not find any "feed alert" so had to resort to RSS'ing the headlines instead!

A more successful exercise was using the "feed alert" for my daily dose of the "Sideswipe" column in the New Zealand Herald.This was confirmed by Google in minutes.

I have discovered that not all items have "feed alerts" but at least I am aware of them now.

I think these alerts would be very useful to patrons following a particular author or pop star in discovering exactly when they have written a new book or new release etc.

RSS Feeds

I tried putting an RSS feed from AccessScience, Proquest and Science Journals but it constantly drops out while waiting between "save" and "create RSS feed". At least this exercise has alerted me to the potential of both these time saving ways of keeping up to date with selected information, AND being able to view this information in 1 place!!

I was wondering if this can only be set up with services that supply RSS feeds? and if not, then how?

The NSL website was fascinating, showing information about the latest computer classes, new book titles, book reviews etc.