WISER: Is IT all a bit much? Getting information to come to you Clare Jarvis Acquisitions Librarian, Bodleian Law Library & Katherine Melling Senior Information Officer, Saïd Business School

Keeping up to date – the challenge Information resources are increasingly varied... …a n d v a s t

What methods do you currently use to find out about new information in your subject area? How effective do you think they are?

…and solutions… Tools and services to highlight new publications: –Journal/Table Of Contents (TOC) alerts e.g. ZETOC –Citation alerts from Web of Science –Saving and re-running database searches e.g. FirstSearch, CSA Illumina –Mailing lists e.g. JiscMail –Newsfeeds, blogs and podcasts

Remember… The idea is to manage information Think first! –What kind of publication and information is most useful to you? –How much time will you have to digest and act on the alerts? –Will a new alert duplicate information you already receive from elsewhere? –What is the “life expectancy” of your interest in a particular topic?

RSS feeds RSS Really Simple Syndication Subscribe to updates from favourite websites and other e-resources First you need a “reader” - software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read new articles that have been added to them Free web readers – e.g. Google Reader, Bloglines, My Yahoo! RSS is available when you see this logo in a website or database:

Case study 1 - Dr Organization I need to keep up to date with key journals in management – but I haven’t got time to keep browsing in the library or on websites!

Solution – journal alerts e.g. ZETOC is the British Library’s electronic tables of contents service Covers 20,000 journals and 16,000 conference proceedings a year You can set up alerts and RSS feeds for particular journals, or for keywords or author names Available through OxLip, ATHENS password needed for remote access

Case Study 2 – Ms All Rounder My DPhil topic is really interdisciplinary. I need to keep up to date with several topics, but I don’t want the hassle of checking databases all the time.

Solution – Database alerting services Receive an when there is new material in your subject area RSS or Alerts (sometimes both available) Some databases use different terms: –“Alerts”, “Updates”, “SDI” (selective dissemination of information), “Save search” You can set up multiple alerts –Tip: name your alerts meaningfully

Types of alerts Tables of contents of journals and conference proceedings Journal articles, book chapters, book reviews –Use databases to receive alerts about new articles relating to specified subjects/authors/other keywords –Search as usual, then make your search into an alert by clicking “Alert” or by choosing it from your “Search history” Receive alerts about new material on broad or narrow subject areas Receive alerts whenever a particular article is cited by someone else

Citation alerts from Web of Knowledge Citation alerts let you know whenever a particular article is cited by someone else This can help you keep up to date in several ways: –You can track how important a particular article is –You can find new articles on a similar topic –You can monitor how well received your own work is!

Click here to set up citation alert Click here to see and save Search history

Citation alerts from Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) in Web of Science, in Web of Knowledge To receive alerts if anyone cites a particular article, click on the article title to select full display Click on Citation alert You will be prompted to log-in or to register. You can set whatever account and password you like The default alert is . To set up RSS feed instead, right click on the XML icon, choose “Copy shortcut”, open your RSS reader and choose “Add”

WOS: Managing My Cited Articles To go to “My Cited Articles List”, click on “My Citation Alerts”, at the top of the page To change the alert settings, click on “My Citation Alerts” (at the top of every page), and click the "Modify Settings" button. You can cancel particular alerts, or change the format of the s Your RSS reader will automatically report new citing articles. You do not need to renew the alert, and should use your RSS reader to cancel the feed

Search History in Web of Science You can save a search either so you can run it again later or so you can be alerted to new records which match the search when they are entered in the database Do a search e.g. “global warming” Click on “Search History” at the top of the page Click on “Save History/Create Alert” “Open Saved History” lets you see your saved histories You will then see the XML button that you can use to set up the RSS feed You can turn the alerting off or delete the search history Choose “Open” to run the search again

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Choice of: –RSS – alerts –Save search histories Need to register for search history and alert functions Search as usual, then choose “Alert me” on the results screen (towards top) New screen opens: log in Choose delivery method –Note “Feature Summary” tips Click “Save” To delete alerts, go to “Manage Searches & Alerts”

Saving and re-running searches: Firstsearch FirstSearch does not offer alerts However, you can save and re-run searches manually in FirstSearch to find new publications related to your search terms Use “My Account” to set up a FirstSearch account Perform a search, then click “Save Search” (bottom right) To re-run your saved search, click on “Previous Searches” on the FirstSearch home page, and enter your account user name and password Re-run saved searches from your list by clicking “Select Terms” and “Search/Combine” Or combine two previous searches using AND/OR/NOT

Case Study 3 – Professor Asset I need to keep up to date with the academic community in the field of economics – things move so fast!

Solution - Mailing lists, feeds, blogs & podcasts Mailing lists, e.g. from publishers, special interest groups – for hundreds of scholarly mailing listswww.jiscmail.ac.uk RSS feeds from webpages wherever you see the icon, e.g. – – – Blogs - online diaries: subscribe to RSS feeds –e.g. for forthcoming conferences in your subject Podcasts – news feeds with audio or video files

Finding feeds, blogs and podcasts Directories –Intute Browse or search for your subject, then “Filter by” Blogs Many other directories available, e.g. –Quacktrack Many subjects, not just Social Sciences –Podcasting news –Podscope

Finding feeds, blogs and podcasts Search engines –Feedster To find individual news items, blogs, podcasts Can use Boolean searching Can make your search into an RSS feed –Technorati Searches blogs Use “Advanced Search” Can make your search into an RSS feed

Summary Keep up to date To avoid information overload To avoid missing important information Using databases, blogs and mailing lists for alerts and RSS feeds Need subject specific advice? Ask your subject consultant Presenters also happy to help – contact or