The purpose of current awareness tools is to allow busy researchers
and clinicians to stay abreast of the latest developments in their area
of interest or expertise. Several types of tools and services are
available to assist users in this area.
Databases Some databases are more current than others. To find the most
recent information from the biomedical literature PubMed and Web of Science
are the best choices. PubMed is updated daily and Web of Science
is updated weekly (on Fridays) allowing both to access very recent publications.
Information about both databases is available from our home page at http://www.uab.edu/lister.
Saved Searches Saved searches allow users to set up search strategies to be run on
a routine basis to monitor developments on a topic of interest. Strategies
can also focus on a particular author or journal. The method of saving
searches varies by database. See a related article in this issue
to learn to save searches in the PubMed Cubby.
Journal Alerts Many journals now allow valid users to enter their email address for
alerts when a new issue of their journal is available. One of our
journal aggregators, EBSCOnline provides this feature. Go into the
title of interest and use the "create alert" button. ScienceDirect
is another large grouping of titles with an "alert" option on each journal
page. Many individual titles and journals offer this service, but
be aware some are limited to personal subscribers not institutions.
TACOS Table of Contents Services are common in hospital settings. This
service provides routine paper or electronic delivery of tables of contents
of journals held in print. In some cases articles can be ordered
from the TACOS delivered. For more information about LHL's table
of contents service within the hospital call 934-2275.
Grants Funding Alerts Community of Science is the resource for grant funding information.
Alerts can be set up to let you know when a new funding opportunity is
announced in your area of research. Community of Science is accessed
from the library home page or directly at http://www.cos.com.
Contact Nancy Clemmons at
or 934-5460.
Health News Sources Often breaking medical news is released to the press the day before
the data is published in the journal. There are several good places
to look on the Internet to monitor health news. MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov)
from the National Library of Medicine has good coverage of health news
by day and by topic. MD Consult has an area of their site called
News and Reports, which includes sections on Today in Medicine, In this
Week's Journals, and What Patients are Reading. Access
MD Consult from the library home page.
Please note that this is a newsletter. The information and links in individual articles are current as of the date of publication, but they are not kept up-to-date thereafter.
Please send comments about this page to: Pat Higginbottom at
