Error notification design

i have a requirement of handling error events in my python program .In the current design, errors are getting stored in the db tables which is read by the client to track the failures , which is anyway a very bad idea of notifying the errors poping up .

I had an idea in my mind , where either the errors would be written down to some xml file or can continue keeping in the DB . There can be n number of interfaces like an email client or event reading program which can help me out here.

But the question is which one is a better approach i.e. should i continue reading the errors from DB or should read from xmls generated .

Is there any design pattern which can be followed for this ?

Suggestions are most welcome.