ON CURRENT AWARENESS SERVICES*

Considers 'Current Awareness Service' as oneof the techniques evolved by the documentation pro-fession to solve the 'information explosion'. Definesthe scope of the term 'Current Awareness Service'.Discusses the various patterns of such service alongwith the levels at which service could be offered.Di scus se s some general principles for the evaluationof Current Awareness Service. Describes brieflysome of the important 'Current Awareness Services'.Suggests Some improverr:ents with a view to i.ncreaseefficacy of the service.

INTRODUC TION

The exponential growth of scientificliterature coupled with its scattering naturepresents' several problems. Some of theseare:

1. No one individual, no one organisa-tion, and no one country couldidentify or acquire with certaintyall the docum ents that contain usefulinformation;

2. No individual could read, much less'retain in his memory all of therecorded information that might beof current or future interest tohim; and

3. The traditional library tools arebecoming progressively less effec-tive as the volume of the materialgrows and the needs of the indivi-duals become more specialized.

Specialisation has become a necessity toovercome some of these problems·. It hasbeen only through spe c ial isat ion that theindividual could suc ceed, to some extent inreducing the continuing growth of knowledgeto manageable proportions. But now, owing tothe interdisciplinary nature of various sub-j ect di s c ipl in e s, the individual must keepabreast of knowledge outside his narrowspeciality, if he is to work efficiently. Hence,

R SATY ANARA YANAAS RAIZADA

ln s do c, Neu Delbi-/2

it appears that even specialisation providesonly a partial solution to the problem ,ofinformation explosion.

Any method by which access to recordedknowledge to be provided rapidly, conveni-ently, economically and precisely to aresearch worker has to depend upon others.The delegation of the tasks of literaturesearch to others by the researcher brings thefollowing profe s s ional s into the picture:-

1. The Librarian;

2. The Editor (both Primary and ·theSecondary) of the technical periodi-cal;

3.4.

The Abstracter; and

The Indexer

From what has been stated above it can beinferred that: the emergence of documenta-tion is a natural consequence of the literatureexplosion; the documentation professionevolved a variety of tool~ and systems (suchas abstracts, indexes and the application ofmechanized methods for processing informa-tion etc. ) in the hope of promoting efficientutilization of rec or ded knowledge in the cause.of Science and technology; and the methodideveloped for keeping the Scientists abreast of'the Current developments in the field of theirspecialisation is known by the name 'CurrentAwareness Service'.

CURRENT LITERATURE

The term Current Literature usuallyconnotes nascent or newly created literature.It may also mean, the literature that is invogue or in currency. The term has beenint e r pr et ed by one scienti st (16] to mean thebody of or igin al literature published in a givenmonth. Every field of sci.entific researchdemands the knowledge of current literatureon the part of the scientist if he is to make

Based on Q Project Report s ub m it t e d for the train in g course in Ducun.erJ/atiun andReprograpby conducted by I n s do c during t b e year 1965-66.

152 Ann Lib Sc i Doc

ON CURRENT AWARENESSSERVICES

worth while contribution to the advancement ofknowledge in that field. 'It is better if thescientist has information on what is beingworked out today and planned for tomorrow inother laboratories working on the same orsimilar problems in all parts of fh e world' [15].But, how could this task be accomplished bythe scientist? That is exactly where currentawer ene ss service comes into the picture.

DEFINITION AND SCOPE

Any effort made to bring current litera-ture to the notice of research workers couldbe termed as Current Awareness Service. Butwe define the term as 'a system of servicewhich ensures that all the information likelyto influence the progress of a researchworker or a research team is made availableto them in the right time and in a convenientform '. The sole object of such a system ofservice would be to ensure that research isnot delayed or conducted inefficiently becauseof the failure to obtain potentially availableinformation and that earlier research is notduplicated. Obviously, this interpretation ofthe term 'Current Awareness Service' doesnot strictly enforce the one month time limita-tion for the literature to be considered ascurrent. However, we would like to empha-sise that promptness and coverage keyed tothe needs of a particular group of scientistsand the ease of use are the most importantfactors that must be considered in the design-ing of any current awareness service. Currentawareness service is being provided in differ-ent patterns and at different levels. Each of

Ithese patterns and the levels (1. e. Local,National and International) at which this ser-vice could be rendered effectively are dis-cussed in the following paragraphs.

PATTERNS OF SERVICE

For the sake of convenience, CurrentAwareness Service could be divided into somedefinite groups. The Chart in page 154presents such a division. The main charac-teristics applied in the division ar e r -

1. Entry element;2. Arrangement; and3. The Physical Form

Considering the first of the character-istics namely, the entry element, we have thefollowing categories of the service:

Vol 14 No 3 September 1967

a) Title of periodical as the entryelement;

b) Title of individual article as theentry elem ent; and

c) Words in the title of the article asthe entry element.

Each of these could be sub-divided using thesecond and the third characteristics as indi-cated in the chart.

Title of the Periodical as the Entry Element

The assumption that a research workeror a group of such workers select a few impor-tant periodicals in their subject of interest andfeel satisfied if they could scan these periodi-cals, appears to be the basis for this service.This approach has a validity in the umbral orcore region of the work. Most of the highlyspecialised workers appear to be guided bythis approach. To satisfy the above approachof research workers, current awareness ser-vices wherein title of the periodical is used asthe entry element, have come into vogue. Thistype of service is popularly referred by thename ~delS.~;J,cl~b::.:.. In this service aperiodical is regarded as a single unit.Contents pages of periodicals in any specificsubject are reproduced and arranged alpha-betically either according to the title of thejournal or according to the broad subjectgroups. The list thus produced is dissemi-nated. This method provides an easy approachfor searching and purposeful scanning of a

, limited but important group of periodical s.

Evolution of Index-by-J ournal System

This system was first designed by thefriends of Armed Forces Medical Library inthe year 1940 for assisting the physicians in theform 'Current List of Medical Literature'. Inthis, the table of contents of selected periodi-cals were reset in a standard type and reducedin size to get the maximum number on asingle page. It grouped the journals in classes-anatomy, physiology and so on to permit arapid review by the physician of a field orfields of interest. [12]. Another venture inthis direction was the "Guide to Russian Sci-entific Periodical Literature" started in 1948by the Library at Brookhaven National Labo-ratories' in Upton, New York. In the abovetwo cases, contents pages of journals werecollected, reset and arranged after the jour-nals had been published. These were not re-

153

SATY ANARA YANA &. RAIZADA

CU5tR[..,T AWA."[JroIt:S5 SI:RVICF.

PHYSICAL FORMS

MIMEOGRAPHED PRINTED APERTURE EDGE NOTCHED

Chart showing the groupings of Current Awareness Servicesby Entry Element, Arrangement, and the Physical Form.

produced directly. Hence, considerableamount of editorial work was involved in theabove services.

Contents in -Adv an ce

In the production of 'contents in advance'the method of direct reproduction of tables ofcontents was used for the first time. This wasproduced on an experimental basis by EugeneGarfield in 1956. The greatest advantage ofthis method was reduction of compilation andeditorial work and enhanced speed of service.This system is now being employed in the pro-duction 'current contents '.

Article as Entry Element

Owing to the developments in Scientificcommunication and the practice of (technicallyr e fe r r ed to as seepage) important articles ofone subject occurring in journals devoted toother subjects, it becomes difficult to keepmoderately well-informed about the progressmade in a subject. To obviate this difficultyservices wherein periodical article is con-sidered as a single unit, have come intobeing. According to this method journalsare first scanned or entries are prepared onthe basis of details obtainable from the con-tents page. They are then arranged either byusing a classification scheme or grouped alpha-

154

betically under their broad subjects, the sub-

arrangement being according to the name ofthe author of the article. In the preparationof these entries standard cataloguing practiceis followed. The final list thus obtained iseither printed or cyclostyled and dissemi-nated. This procedure involves a lot ofcompilation and editorial work and as suchquick service could not be rendered by thismethod.

• Significant words as the Entry Element

As specialisation grew in intensity, thescientist began to search for literature in hisfield of spe c ia.Ii s at ion by means of technicalterminology pertaining to his subject. To suitthis approach, new types of current awarenessservices have been designed. Soon, thereappeared services where significant andmeaningful words picked up from the articlesare used as entry element. These words arearranged in an alphabetical sequence with orwithout the context in which they have beenemployed in the original articles. Recentadvances in computer technology have usheredthe produc1:ion of Permutation, Keyword inContext (KWIC) Keyword Away from Context(KWAC) and the Citation Indexes. Chemical

..Titles (CT) may be cited as the earliest. example of such a current awareness service.

Ann Lib Sci Doc

ON CURRENT AWARENESSSERVICE

Presentation Trends

A careful analysis of the recently pro-duced current awareness lists such as "Chemi-cal Biological Activities" (CBAC), 'CurrentPapers in Physics' (CPP) and Current Papersindicates that the new trend of presentation isa compromise between the traditional subjectapproach and the fancied journal approach bythe scientists. In other words, the new trendattempts to synthesise these two approachesinto a unified one.

LEVELS OF CURRENT AWARENESS SERVICE

The concept of levels is applicable tocurrent awarenesS service only from the pointof view of production. In other words, if thecompilation and production agency is of inter-national nature, or the production effort isshared by more than one nation for a parti-cular service, it may be said that the serviceis an international one. It is difficult to applythis concept from the consumption point ofview as it is equally difficult to visualise thedivision of Science as Afro-Asian Science,Asian Science and Indian Science. Thismeans, that the very nature of Science beinginternational from the consumption point ofview every level of service (1.e. international,national or the local) will have internationalscope.

International

The purpose of this service would he tocater for the current awareness needs of sci-entists all over the world without any discrimi-nation. Such service could be an all pervasiveone, covering all subject fields or it could beone limited to a particular subject field. Anomnibus current awareness service like the

LEVELS

Universal bibliography is neither possible toaccomplish nor is desirable. Such a serviceis beset with the practical difficulties like:(1) Collection of information about the currentliterature being produced in different langu-ages of the world, its processing and dissemi-nation poses problems like that of finance,technical manpower; and (2) The clientelebeing an undefined one, the efficacy of such aservicc_c,o_\lldnot easily be~!Ue8Bed.

It appears no such service is in existencetoday. The other possibility is to have current

l.awareness service limited to one subject field.

, International societies in a special field suchas crystallography, microscopy are the bestorganisations to undertake this seevtce. Thisirrrpl ies comprehensiveness in cover-age; Theproblem is how to determine the exhaustive-ness of any current awareness service? It isto be determined on the basis of the numberof journals scanned for the purpose or by anyother criteria? To judge the comprehensive-ness by counting only the number of titles maybe misleading. For, a recent analysis on thejournal productivity has revealed that only 250journals produce as much as 50'7. of theabstracts in the Chemical Abstracts and afterthat the law of dimi.nishing returns comes intoplay so that the remaining 750 journals pro-duce only 251. of the abstracts (1.e. the first1000 journals producing 751. of the totalabstracts) a second 1000 journals increasethe productivity only by 10% and the third1000 titles add only 5% [I]. This only demon-strates that in any subject field if properselection be effected, 250 journals cover asmuch as 50 % of the worthwhile literature inthat field. However, comprehensivenessshould not be attempted at the cost of speed,as speed is the very essence of currentawareness services. Current papers inPhysic s could be cited as an example of cur-

OF SERVICE

Vol 14 No 3 September 1967

cnvernJ!e""hau.\tvc"".~)

155

SATYANARAYANA8<RAIZADA

rent awareness service at an internationallevel. Chemical titles, Bioresearch titles andChemical and Biological Activities though,strictly not organised on international basisare very useful for a wider clientele.

From what has been stated above themain factors in the organisation of currentawareness service at an international levelappear to be proper selection of the number ofperiodi.cals to be included in the service andthe adaptation of suitable compilation techni-ques which result in the speedy production anddissemination. However, such services sometimes tend to be too general and do not satisfythe specific requirements of any particulartype of users.

National

The research activities of the country areto be carefully considered before any attemptis made to provide current awareness serviceat a national level. Service should be ~oriented as to meet the literature ne ec ·fre search and development in a country

The essential aifference between a' .international and a national service lies in thefact that the former should attempt to pr ovtdecomprehensive service while the latter strivesto provide service tailored to the researchneeds of a particular country. In a nationalservice selectivity of the material is biasedtowards the national interest. 'Express Infor-mation Service' provided by VINITI could becited as an exar .•ple of such a service.

The need for prompt reporting of newinformation has in recent years stimulated anew communication media called local docu-mentation list. This service is some timesknown by the name 'In-house Current Aware-ness Service'. Many special libraries anddocumentation units attached to scientific andtechnical or ganisations provide this type ofservice. Mainly the research and technicalstaff of the respective organisations form theclientele to this service. The merits of cur-rent awareness at local level are:

1. Cliente le is limited and their needscould be gauged very precisely;

Z. A Local Service System can incorpo-rate a user feed-back, thereby, beingconstantly alive to the changinginterests of its users; and

15(1

3. Selectivity of material and the userto whom it is directed could beachi.eved in an effective manner.Similar opinion is reflected byMr. Voigt (1 Z].

The concept of levels of CurrentAwa r enes s Service has been graphicallydepicted in the figure given in page 155.

EVALUATIONTECHNIQUES

For any Service system, there must be amethod of evaluation. Evaluation is necessaryin order to optimize and maximize the efficacyof the system. The performance characterVtics of any system a r-e expressed by the tel'efficiency and efftca cy with which the syste, .• isachieving its goal. It must be pointed out ne r e,that althou the total efficiency of the system isdependent l ts co: l.ponents yet, it is r.ot thear ithrna ti ca, > linec.r expressions of the effi-ciencies of th components. In the overallevaluation of a·.:ysystem, there are certainbasic principlef which can be deemed as mini-mum necessary ·'Jteps. These are:

1. Establishing the functional criteriaof the system;

Z. Establishing the performance charac-teristics; and

3. Establishing and standardising test

procedures for the system and forthe components .

. .oz-makl y, functional criteria for a'C\~.•'rent Awareness Service' are its statedobje ct s, In other words, these are limitedby the scope, clientele 1"'.'. the nature ofservice. However, it r ccome s necessary totest the validity of these objectives periodi-cally as the very nature of the service is such,that it is so much user dependent, that aminimum change in the user approach islikely to make the ae rv+ce obsolete andineffective.

The criteria the performance cha-racteristics of the ~omponents of the systemare to be e atabl is'aed first independently foreach component and then for the entire sub-system. The components that normally go in'Current Awareness Service' are sub-systemsli.ke acquisition, classification, cataloguing,indexing and dissemination; user; the skilledand the semi-skilled persons; and machines

Ann Lib Sd Doc

ON CURRENT AWARENESS SERVICE

like type -writers, duplicating or printingrrrachirres ; processing machines like semi-automatic machines handling punch cards orcomputers. The role of each of these in theentire service has to be ascertained andevaluated from time to time, vis -a -v is theirperformance, efficiency and efficacy. It mustbe pointed out here, that a particular systemselects a particular type of configuration ofcomponents with a view to achieve the statedobjectives.

There are no pre sc r ibe d set, or uni-versally accepted standards for comparing theperformance of a component, sub - system orthe entire system. During the course of theservice these standards have to be evolvedand tested from time to time till the profes-sion is able to provide standards for evalua-tion. That is to say that the performance of aclassifier or indexer is much dependent on thescheme of classification or the system used.At present even these schemes do not provideany working standards.

Some times even the very sub-systemslike classification or cataloguing need evalua-tion in the light of the changing context pro-vided by th'e user.

Human Factor s

'Current Awareness Service' is highlydependent on human beings for its sourcematerial, compilation, processing, produc-t ion, dissemination and use. This service canbe viewed as the system of interactions ofhuman beings. 'Human beings have indivi-duality, and only under extremes of controlledconditions can human reactions be predicted.A controlled experiment involving a person ispossible, but difficult to arrange, and isfeasible only for limited activities' [17],definitely not for intellectual activities likethe ones called for in the compilation, pro-duction and the use of 'Current AwarenessService'. Consequently, human factors cannotbe ignored in any attempt for evaluating theservice as a whole or the performance of acomponent or a sub-system.

It has not been possible to trace anyattempt for evaluating 'Current AwarenessService' at the international level. At best acomponent or a sub-system of such a servicemight have been evaluated but not the systemas a whole.

Vol 14 No 3 September 1967

As ses ernent

At the national level attempt has beenmade in India by the Indian National ScientificDocumentation Centre, to evaluate the efficacyof the 'Insdoc List of Current ScientificLiterature '. The test procedure adopted inthis method was as follows: A list of clientelewas prepared from the records maintained atthe centre. Questionnaires specially designedfor the purpose were sent to all of them.The research workers who used the list fre-quently were asked to complete thequestionnaire and send it back to the centre.A team of workers specially constituted forthe purpose personally interviewed theresearch workers and recorded the resultsof their interviews. The complete results ofthis attempt have been presented in the formof a report (14].

On local level such experiments arebeing conducted in places like Atomic EnergyEstablishment, London. It may be stated thatmost of the 'user studies' are directed mainlytowards the evaluation of the information sys-tems. As with public opinion polls, thevalidity of such results is a short lived oneand cannot be applied for all times. However,local services must incorporate the periodicalevaluation of the efficacy in their operationalroutines.

SOME EXISTING SERVICES

The subsequent paragraphs present astudy of some of the existing current aware-ness services.

A. Current Contents

This is a weekly service iuued by theInstitute of Scientific Information, Philadel-phia. It is presented in two'series,A It B.Series A confines itself to space and phySicalsciences and was started in the year 1961.Series B includes in its scope chemicalpharmacomedical and IHe sciences. Eachseries covers about 600 selected journals inthe respective fields.

Current Contents consists of threeparts: The alphabetical part contains the listof periodicals covered in that particular issuegiving the reference to the page numberswhere those journals are featured. Thesecond part consists of the table of contents ofthe periodicals. The contents pages are

157

SATYANARAYANA &r RAIZADA

reproduced and grouped without any obviousarrangement. The third part is the authordirectory. It is an alphabetical list of thenames and addresses of authors.

Current Contents can be considered asan example where index-by journal method isfollowed. The author directory helps theresearch workers in contacting the author ofthe paper.

Though, this service is primarilydesigned to meet the needs of Americanclientele, its utility is not limited to Americaalone.

* Since 1967 'Current Contents' isappearing in three serie s. The third serie s isentitled 'Current Contents-Chemical Series'.A special feature of the new series is that itincorporates 'Permuterm Index' and structural

1diagrams of chemical compounds in additionto the usual features mentioned earlier. IBM360 is utilized in the compilation of the'Permuterm Index'. This index provides sub-ject approach to the 'Current Contents' andenhances its use.

B. Current Chemical Papers (CCP)

It is a monthly publication published bythe Chemical Society, London.

Current Chemical Papers was started in1954. The purpose of this service is to reportnew papers in pure chemistry.

Unlike the 'Current Contents' in thisservice article and not periodical is treatedas a single unit. The entries in CCP arearranged alphabetically under 13 broad aubje c:headings. The coverage is highly selectiveand only 450 journals are scanned for thepurpose. The CCP is noted for its speed inlisting current material.

The entries in CCP are arranged alpha-betically under 13 broad subject headings.The coverage is highly selective and only 450journals are scanned for the purpose. TheCCP is noted for its speed in listing currentmaterial.

C. Chemical Titles (CT)

Chemical Titles is the publication of theAmerican Chemical Society designed to pro-

158

vide current awareness servicct It startedits publication in the year 1960. ChemicalTitles covers the fields of pu.e and appliedchemistry and chemical engineering. It is abiweekly service. About 700 journals arescanned for the purpose of this service.

Chemical Titles is in three parts. Thefirst part consists of an index in which Key-words from titles of articles are arrangedalphabetically in the central column. Alongwith these Keywords the index contains asmuch of the remainder of the titles of thearticles as could be programmed on the com-puter within the space available in the column.The additional matter nearly always furnishesa clue to the nature of the work and should beregarded as the context facilitating the selec-tion of relevant title s. The second part is abibliographical listing of titles of currentpapers from selected journals in the form oftables of contents. The journal reference isprovided at the top of each table of contents.The specimen entry furnished below illus-trates the point more clearly.

Specimen Entry_. J. appl •••• " •••M••••• n 11M71flJA'AJ-0018-1".7 llHCEFIHO fitJ SCHOFielD P

THEIU4Al-HEUTRC'" MILNE PROBlE.... 1",Q7-51t:flJAPlJ-OOU-1521 !lROWNrues PCIHECUS P

TECHNOLOGY AND PRCPERTIES OF EPITlltal INOIU- jIISE~IOEusus.- 1'j21'-H

eJAPU-OOl(il-IS4t] "ALE JCHAll EFFECT MEASUREMENT IN seJil"ONoucrING CtUlCQGENIOE

GlASSES A •••O LIOUIDS.- 15<fo)-SC

IIJAPAJ-OOU-U5' eUII.OETT CF LAYNG lit!KAGNEHC O •.•• PI"G IN GADOLINIUM.- 10;'51-8

e.u.PIJ-OOU-1'55Q O~Ep.j EA EV•.•••S E"ATC~UC. VI 611.AT ION .f"'l nuDES •••• TWO AllOVS. s u \/fR-(OPPER

AND CC'lD-(OPPEA.- 1~'5q-ot:

The third part is an alphabetical index ofall authors of papers mentioned in each t s sueof Chemical Titles along with the referencecode for the paper. Chemical Titles is thefirst computer produced current awarenessservice. IBM 407 and 1401 are used for thepurpose of production.

D. Chemical-Biological Activities

Chemical-Biological Activities (CBAC) isa current-literature index to the biologicalactivity of organic compounds. It is beingpublished by American Chemical Societysince 1964. The publication is computer-based to achieve rapid information dissemina-tion. The subject areas covered by CBAC are:(1) Organic compounds that act on biologicalsystems exclusive of botanical Kingdom;(2) Animal and microorganism metabolismstudies; and (3) In vitro chemical reacting oforganic compounds of biochemical intere st.

Ann Lib Sei Doc

ON CURRENT AWARENESS SERVICE

Pertinent articles from approximately 300journals are covered in each issue of CBAC.CBAC is published twice in a month.

Chemical-Biological Activities hasfour section s:

v 1. Dige st Section;.2. KWIC Index;

_3. Molecular Formule Index; and4. Author Index

The digest section contains the coreinformation arranged to facilitate rapid reviewof the research results contained in newpaper s. The Keywords in both the title sanddigests are indexed in the KWIC Index. TheMolecular Formula Index Lists the mole-cular formulas by increasing number of carbonatoms. The Author Index lists all authorsalphabetically. The special feature of CBACis that it provides both subject approach aswell as the journal approach.

Arrangement

The entries in the digest section arearranged first under the abbreviated form ofthe name of the journal. Coden form isfollowed in abbreviating the titles of the jour-nab in CBAC. The sub-arrangement isaccording to the title of the article and notaccording to the alphabetical order of thesurname of the author.

Specimen

Nalure, aoe, No•. 4 •• 7, " ••• , and 4 •• 0 (I ••• )METAeo",I'_ 06' 611_Hl'ORO."_J.~C.,a.O"'JClAOST .•.!'t-,r_0Nt: e" ""'IID!T LIW:A 111IVITAO.

N",u,206 •••9117.65.933O•••Hhon 0. ••. oH••••• ., KIU,,'''' f"OI•••••••.a••• 5••ot.

,~ •• ,t,l:>Oll •• Of~-H)'d •.o.It/-3.5-~:.'clD •••"•.o.t •••-11-o ••• loW•.•••blt I..IYEA I •••• Itro .I.l",d ••••• t •• all t ••• I" c~•••• 10'''' I f I.d ••l,5-CWclo•••dro.t •••-6.ll-dlon ••

*....,

M.

663396

""~

"'"M.

6631iOl.,The digest as shown in the above entry

serves the purpose of an indicative abstract.Another special feature that could be noticedin the above entry is that the research stationof the author of the article is also providedin the Digest Section of the CBAC. Thesefeatures make it an ideal Current AwarenessService.

E. Current Papers in Physics (CPP)

"The CPP is a new current awarenessservice started by the Institution of Electrical

Vol 14 No 3 September 1967

Enginee.rs in association with the Institute ofphysics, the Physical Society, and theAmerican Institute of Physics. It has beengiven a format and featuring which is quitedistinctive. The format is like that of a smallsize newspaper. The featuring of articles init is a well thought out combination of broadsubject and journal approach. The entire listis divided into about 20 broad subject headingswhich are printed in bold face. Under each ofthese headings, listing is by the titles of thehost periodicals and issue numbers. Under anytitle of periodical, the order 2,fthe article s,if more than one, is the same as is found inthe contents page of that issue. In effect thiswould mean that the contents of a catch-alltype periodical like the Physical Review willbe scattered under a number of subject head-ings, while almost the entire contents of anis sue of a periodical dealing with a specificfield in physics, like the Journal of theAcoustical Society of America, would be foundunder the subject heading Acoustics. TheCPP is produced by the most conventionalmethods of production and printing" [8].

SUGGESTIONS

We have seen that two major objectiveswhich any Current Awareness Service aims toachieve are (a) to select and bring to thenotice of a research worker the exact infor-mation from current literature, in his field of ,interest and (b) to supply this information asquickly as possible. Hence when we think ofbringing in any improvements in such servicewe have to think of them along these two lines1. e. (a) how to make the service more inti-mate and realistic to the needs of its usersand (b) how to minimise the time-lag betweenthe publication of primary periodicals and thenotice of their contents in such a service. Thi sstudy indicate s the following sugge stions forimproving the efficacy of current awarenes sservices:

1. If the service is to be organised at a'national level, which may be eco-nomic , implying thereby that theservice is to meet the collectiveneeds and interests of a large groupof research workers, the agencyresponsible for the service mustmaintain something like an up-to-date file of research-in-progress inthe country for the proper selectionand presentation of matter in the

15~

SATYANARA YANA & RAIZADA

Current Awareness List. Thereshould also be provision for periodi-cal evaluation of the service.

2. To rrrirrirn i se the time-lag the prac-tice of using contents page s as thebasis for compilation of CurrentAwareness Lists is steadily gainingground. To make this practicereally effective the following changesare essential.

(a) The contents pages should betreated as individual entities andshould be made marketable com-modities so that they could bepurchased in the market like thejournals.

(b) They should contain completeinformation as regards the nameof journal, volume and issuenumbers. etc. The contentspage should include full addressof the authors, the initial andthe inclusive page numbers,broad subject headings, andannotations to the articles withtheir titles.

3. In view of the growth of KWIC indextype of lists, the responsibilities ofauthors are great in supplying mean-ingful and meaty titles and properreferences to their articles for thesuccess of such indexes.

4. To bring in the above mentionedchanges in the contents page a closecooperation between the authors andthe journal editors is suggested.

5. Documentalists should devote someenergies for developing perfor-mance and service standards forcurrent awareness services. Tobegin with these standards shouldbe prepared for local level ofservice.

6. Local current awareness servicesshould be regularly evaluated fortheir effective performance. Thisis necessary to avoid a dangerouspitfall of the service becoming amere 'ritual'.

REFERENCES

[1] Bernays (P M) and others: A computerbased inventory of CA. J chernDoc, 1965, 5(4), 415-20.

160

[2] Bottle (R T): A user's assessment ofcurrent awareness services. J Doc,1965, 21(3), 177-89.

[3] Broadhurst (P L): Swimming against theflood of literature. Bull BritPsyehological Soci.ety, 1964, 17(56),1-7.

[4] Brown (C P): World's technical journalliterature. Amer Doc, 1962,13(2), 159 -68.

Coblans (H): New methods and techni-ques for communication of know-ledge. Unesco Bull Libs, 1957,11(7), 154-75.

Darling (S M): For new method of dis-semination of information. ChernEngng News, 1952, 30(7), 9.

Fest (T B): Closing the communicationgap. Proc of Institute of Technjcaland Industrial Communications,1962, 93-9.

Guha (B): Current Papers in Physicsand the state of Current AwarenessService. Ann Lib Sci. Doc, 1966,13(1), 34-37.

[9] Hammet (L P): Choice and chance inSci.entific Communication. ChernEngng News, 1961, 39, 94-7.

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]/

J

(10] Kent (A): Speci.alised informationcentres. Washington, D. C. ,Spartan Books, 1964.

[11] MacWatt (J A): Future and three newindex services. Unesco Bull Libs,1962, 16(4), 187-90.

(12] MacWatt (J A): Improving ScientificCommunication. Sci.ence, 1961,134, 313-16.

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