  We show that high resolution Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)
provides direct, element-specific and momentum-resolved information on the
electron-phonon (e-p) coupling strength. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates
that the e-p coupling can be extracted from RIXS spectra by determining the
differential phonon scattering cross section. An alternative, very direct
manner to extract the coupling is to use the one and two-phonon loss ratio,
which is governed by the e-p coupling strength and the core-hole life-time.
This allows measurement of the e-p coupling on an absolute energy scale.
