The Use of Online Current Awareness Services by Natural Sciences and Engineering Faculty at Western Michigan University

Autor/inn/en	Leatherman, Carrie C.; Eckel, Edward J.
Titel	The Use of Online Current Awareness Services by Natural Sciences and Engineering Faculty at Western Michigan University
Quelle	In: Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, (2012) 69 PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1092-1206
DOI	10.5062/F41V5BWQ
Schlagwörter	Engineering Education; Natural Sciences; Researchers; Information Dissemination; Library Instruction; College Faculty; Higher Education; Delivery Systems; Periodicals; Electronic Publishing; Web Sites; Surveys; Databases; Science Education; Users (Information); Academic Libraries; Michigan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ingenieurausbildung; Naturwissenschaften; Researcher; Forscher; Informationsverbreitung; Bibliotheksverzeichnis; Fakultät; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Auslieferung; Periodical; Journal; Zeitschrift; Fachzeitschrift; Periodikum; Elektronisches Publizieren; Web-Design; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Datenbank; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Benutzerprofil; Nutzer; College; Colleges; University; Universities; Libary; Libraries; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; Universität; Bibliothek; Hochschulbibliothek
Abstract	Nearly every commercial database that covers natural sciences and engineering offers some type of current awareness (CA) service that provides regular updates to users on current literature in a selected field of interest. Current awareness services include e-mail alerts, tables of contents, and RSS feeds. This study was designed to find out what percentage of natural sciences and engineering faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU) uses online CA services, what types of CA tools they use, how useful they find these tools, and whether faculty would be interested in a library training session that covered such tools. We invited WMU natural sciences and engineering faculty to take a 13-question survey. We found that e-mail alerts were the most often-used CA service; few researchers used RSS feeds. Most researchers used the services to alert them to research in a specific subject area. Awareness of other researchers in specific areas was the most frequently cited contribution of CA services. A significant number of natural sciences and engineering faculty at WMU would be interested in library instruction about CA services, although whether they would take advantage of such instruction is uncertain. Appended is a link to the Current Awareness Services Survey. (Contains 3 tables and 9 figures.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Science and Technology Section, Association of College and Research Libraries. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Web site: http://www.istl.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10