Find an introduction to RSS feeds in News feeds - staying informed.  RSS feeds are distributed by the host website when content updates occur. Registering to receive the RSS feed alert is referred to as 'subscribing to the feed' and it is free of charge. RSS feeds are not delivered to your email Inbox so you need to set up a tool to collate your RSS feeds. Find more details in News feeds - staying informed. Options include collating your RSS feeds using:

• a feed reader
• your web browser
• Microsoft Outlook

Subscribe to current awareness RSS feeds. Many websites, including government and publisher websites, provide RSS feeds containing news and updates.

You can register to receive the table of contents (TOC) of new journal issues as soon as they are available by using journal TOC alerts. You can receive TOC alerts for individual journal titles through:

• RSS feeds
• email alerts

Receive TOC alerts for journal titles available in the library in print format and library electronic journals. To keep well-informed about your subject area use TOC alerts for journal titles not available through the library. Journal TOC alerting services vary by publisher and by journal title. Some publishers host them on their websites. Try setting up a TOC alert for your favourite journal using the links below.

• Westlaw New Zealand and Westlaw International
  Contact the Law Librarian to get a OnePass account for email or RSS feed alerts and What's New content updates for specific titles.
• Index to Legal Periodicals
  Open the Publications and the feed icon links for each title. Subscribe to the RSS feed or set up an EBSCOhost account to set alerts.
• JournalTOCs
  Follow journals and use the Save & Export instructions to subscribe to RSS feeds. Set up a JournalTOCs account for email alerts.

Not all journal titles have an RSS feed or email TOC alerting service. Keep up-to-date with these journals using database search alerts.

Set up personal search alerts within databases to save time with your research. Search alerts will notify you of new items that meet your search criteria.

Keep your literature search up-to-date using these example search alerts:

• keyword or phrase searches for current awareness on a topic
• author name searches for publications by experts in your field
• journal title searches for the most recent articles from specific publications (see also Journal TOC alerts)
• your name to track your research impact

To set up search alerts from library databases you usually need to register yourself for a personal user account within each individual database. Try setting up an account in your favourite database or get started with search alerts using the details below.

• Westlaw New Zealand and Westlaw International
  Contact the Law Librarian for a OnePass account to set up search alerts.
• Google Alerts
  Use Google's Expert Search Tips. Create precise searches in Google Alerts and register to receive emails of new web content.