Keeping Up-To-Date : Current Awareness

Information collection methods

There are two important methods:

Automatic collection (push technology): users subscribe to alerts or mailing lists to receive targeted information, which is "pushed" to them whenever there is an update;
Manual collection (pull technology): users go online to "pull" the most recent information on a given topic.

(translated from InfoSphère Sciences 2014)

Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages, yet both are important to cover all sources.

Comparative Table of Collection Methods

	Manual	Automatic
Pertinence of results	the best	depends on the strategy implemented
Time spent	a lot each time	a lot to set up, very little afterwards
Frequency	easy to forget	guaranteed
Scope	everything the user has access to	limited to the sources offering automatic alerts

Method 1: Automatic collection

Most databases and several websites offer alert services.

It is often possible to choose between subscriptions by RSS feed or email alerts, in addition to subscriptions to newsletters and mailing lists.

There are also free tools for:

Creating individual RSS feeds (see the RSS Feeds tab in this guide);

Monitoring changes to the content of a single page:
- WatchThatPage (online)
- VisualPing (online)
- ChangeDetect (online)
- Update Scanner (Firefox add-on)

Method 2: Manual collection

Some sources cannot be monitored automatically, therefore it is necessary to collect information manually.

The following tips will help you optimize manual collection:

To make sure you check the source regularly, plan and create alerts in your calendar;

To reduce the time to create a search strategy, copy/paste the strategy in your current awareness plan;

To reduce the time looking for websites, save and organize the URLs in the browser’s bookmarks.

Mailing lists

A mailing, distribution, SMS, newsletter list, or listserv sends out email messages to subscribers. There are three distinct types of lists: public, semi-public, and private.

Research groups, conferences, committees, or professional associations generally use this type of tool. Usually, their website displays a box in which a user can enter their email address in order to subscribe.

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