Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 12:00:28 -0500 From: Gerry Mckiernan It has occurred to me that Web feeds (RSS, [ http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA296443 ], Atom [ http://www.atomenabled.org/ ], Other(s)?) hold the potential of providing not only publication notification to institutional (or individual) subscribers for current electronic journal issues, but also could serve as the mechanism by which local holdings for the e-journal could be seamlessly updated within the local OPAC/ILS. Thanks to Owen Stephens I have learned that the Library of Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, provides not only RSS feeds for all new issues of subscribed [e-]journals, but to individual e-journal titles as well. My new RSS(sm) registry includes entries each of these types of public e-journal issue feeds: [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS2.htm#NewJournalIssues ] In my New World View, institutional subscribers to an e-journal could also be 'subscribed' to the associated Web feed for _each_ e-title by the publisher/vendor. Such eFeed subscriptions could be a Package Deal: a selected Feed Reader of a library's choice (e.g., Pluck [ http://www.pluck.com/ ] provided by a journal vendor (e.g., EBSCO, Swets, etc.) fully populated with the Web feeds addresses for each e-title. [There are of course, other possible scenarios; for example, a Third Party Service could serve as an Aggregator for many e-journal publishers, vendors, etc.][Do I Smell a Business Opportunity or What? [:-)]. Upon publication/release of a new e-journal issue, the local reader would be updated in its next cycle. Such entries would not only be made available through a local New Journal Issue feed similar to what is offered by Royal Holloway [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS2.htm#NewJournalIssues ], but through the Magic of an XML-based Black Box, update the holdings for an e-journal in the local staff and public OPAC. [Of course, The Devil Is In The Details Here, But Hey, RSS is XML, and So the Possibilities are Possible [:->]. I would most appreciate receiving Any and All Comments about MyNewWorldView (or Other Views that this Musings might inspire). Regards, /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Black-Box Librarian Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu