Current Awareness Delivery Options in Food Science and Technology: Their Coverage,Timeliness and Characteristics |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT This study seeks to (1) identify the most productive source for current awareness information for the faculty and graduate students in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Arkansas, (2) identify the update frequency and, hence, currency of information, and (3) identify effectiveness in retrieval. It is also hoped that this research will provide evidenced-based information for subscribing to a particular current awareness database for University of Arkansas food science and technology patrons and will allow us to direct patrons in this subject area to the best and most relevant resource for their current information needs. This paper reports the results of our evaluation of four current awareness sources on three search interfaces. These include Article 1st (First Search); Ingenta Connect; ISI Current Contents: Agriculture, Biology and Environmental Sciences (ABES); and ISI Current Contents: Life Sciences (LS). A listing of journals cited by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Food Science at the University of Arkansas for the period 1987–2003 was used to check against these databases. The extent of coverage of the journals and timeliness of update were used as criteria for the evaluation. The characteristics of the three interfaces are highlighted with respect to their effectiveness in providing a current awareness service. |
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| Keywords: | Food science current awareness University of Arkansas Article 1st Ingenta Connect ISI Current Contents |
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