Objective: To educate the health sciences community about RSS feed readers as a tool to manage the multiple sources of information relevant to their professional needs.
Program: More and more journals are making content available via RSS feed. A working group at a Midwestern academic health sciences library set out in fall 2006 to develop a tool that would allow our patrons to locate feeds for our electronic journals, subscribe to them individually or as a bundled package, and edit them as needed in their preferred reader. As we worked on the project, it became clear that few of our users knew what RSS was, let alone were using tools such as feed readers. We created a corollary goal: to increase awareness, knowledge, and utilization of RSS to manage health information and research among our constituents. We then developed a marketing and educational plan that included open instructional sessions, such as brown-bags and hands-on workshops; course-integrated instruction targeted to receptive groups such as master's of public health students, continuing medical education, and new residents; and improved online materials such as tutorials, video clips, and a more user-friendly website. This paper will discuss the marketing and education aspects of our program.