Chapter G - Current Awareness Service

Abstract

Current awareness service (CAS) is an information service aimed at providing current information to the users in shortest possible time. The various media of CAS are: current awareness list (CAL), current contents, routing of periodicals, selective dissemination of information, research-in-progress, forthcoming meetings, and newspaper clippings. CAL is a type of documentation list which usually covers information about articles in current issues of periodicals, recently published research and technical reports and other micro documents on a broad subject field. In current contents, contents pages of all the current issues of journals received in the library are reproduced and stitched together and sent to the users at regular intervals. Routing of periodicals refers to circulation of journal issues among the users in turn. SDI is organized to disseminate latest information in quickest possible time to each individual reader keeping in view his/her own specific area of interest. Research-in-progress provides information regarding the various research projects undertaken in one research organization or a group of such organizations. Forthcoming meetings is a publication that notifies, in advance, the important conferences/seminars/meetings to be held in near future. In news clipping service, cuttings of topic-wise news from newspapers are supplied to the users.