1. From the backroom to the frontline and back again Library current awareness services to the Home Office Karen George Rachel Robbins

2. Overview –How the service developed –How the service is delivered –Email alerts and newsletters –Feeds –Blogs –Products –Professional skills and development –Benefits

3. How the service developed –2003 - Fortnightly alerting bulletin begins to include electronic resources as items are gleaned from subject specific web searches –2004 - Links to web resources grow based on email alerts and growth of e-library –2005 - Links to blogs and items from RSS feeds are added –any of these may lead to searches for specific reports

4. How the service developed –2003 - Fortnightly alerting bulletin begins to include electronic resources as items are gleaned from subject specific web searches –2004 - Links to web resources grow based on email alerts and growth of e-library –2005 - Links to blogs and items from RSS feeds are added –any of these may lead to searches for specific reports Policy issues highlighted by media focus on Home Secretary Machinery of Government changes Home Secretary departs Policy focus develops on multiple issues (ID cards, foreign prisoners, etc)

5. How the service is delivered 600 incoming e-mail alerts per day 3,000 RSS feeds (multiple posts per day) Intellectual and professional analysis Identify themes, repetition, and relative importance 450 current awareness Bulletin items per fortnight 40+ alerts per day to Press Office Alerts to other Home Office staff Feedback INFORMATION INTELLIGENCE 24/7 operation

6. Email alerts and newsletters –Google mail –http://www.gmail.comhttp://www.gmail.com

7. Feeds (RSS, XML, etc) –Bloglines –http://www.bloglines.com/myblogshttp://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

8. Blogs –Google Blog search –http://www.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=enhttp://www.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=en

9. Products –Blog http://alertinfo.blogspot.com/ –Library Bulletin –Monitoring (tailored) current awareness service –Current awareness service for the Library Enquiry Desk

10. Challenges –Managing resources –Information technology –Changing customer needs caused by: –New issues and projects –Home Secretary / manifesto priorities –Organisational change –Internal – Home Office restructuring –External – Restructuring of departments to concentrate on the government’s priorities (Machinery of Government changes) –NB. You don’t lose the subject coverage just because you’ve lost the lead responsibility for the subject –Impartiality –Evolution of the web

11. Skills –Knowing your customers and your potential customers –Reactive and proactive –Capturing and exploiting new technologies –Searching and evaluating –Cataloguing/indexing –Teamwork –Political knowledge (with a small ‘p’) –Knowledge of the Home Office (then and now) –Spotting issues before they are big stories

12. Benefits –To the Library –To the customer –To the Home Office –To the public –To you

13. Any questions?