College and Research Libraries


A Current Awareness Service 
Using Microcomputer Databases 
and Electronic Mail 
John T. Butler 

Libraries are challenged economically to provide customized services to faculty 
and researchers who have ongoing needs for specialized information. This report 
describes a pilot current awareness service which provided individual faculty 
with weekly searches of recently published literature, while incurring relatively 
low costs. Search results were generated using microcomputer databases and 
were transmitted electronically to faculty using a combination of mainframe 
computing, a high-speed campus network, and electronic mail. The meth-
odology, which incorporated an automatic mailing program, is detailed. Costs 
are analyzed and projected for an expanded service to a moderately large faculty 
population. 

esearchers in the scientific and 
technical disciplines dedicate 
considerable time tracking the 
latest developments in their 

specialized fields. Assimilating new infor-
mation acquired through personal net-
works, scientific meetings, and the 
literature is essential to advancing their 
own research and, in turn, the collective 
knowledge of the field. 1 

Well-known factors, however, stand 
between researchers and their ability to 
keep pace with the primary literature. 
These factors include the substantial 
volume and growth of literature in science 
and technology, and the increasing 
demands to monitor the literature across 
disciplinesP In response, many libraries 
have developed current awareness or 
Selective Dissemination of Information 
(SDI) services. Here, individuals' litera-
ture interests are profiled and formulated 

into computer search statements to be 
regularly searched against recently pub-
lished literature. The results of these 
tailored searches are then routinely for-
warded to service participants. 

While such services in the academic 
environment have been received by fa-
culty and others with high praise, the 
cost of sustaining them has remained an 
issue. Economies of scale are difficult to 
achieve in customized services. And 
when budgets are strained, extending 
such services may seem beyond the 
possible, especially to libraries serving 
large faculty populations. 

Addressing these issues, the Science & 
Engineering Reference unit at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota developed a model 
for providing weekly literature updates 
to faculty. The Current Awareness Ser-
vice (CAS) used microcomputer data-
bases, a high-speed campus network, 

John T. Butler is Reference Librarian and Bibliographer at Science & Engineering Library, University 
of Minnesota- Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455. The author wishes to acknowledge Jerry 
Stearns and Alan Kaufman of Computer Information Services, University of Minnesota, for their 
assistance in developing and testing the Automail program used in this project. 

115 



116 College & Research Libraries 

mainframe computing, and electronic 
mail to realize economies and to expe-
dite dissemination of search results. The 
Science & Engineering Reference unit 
serves over 350 faculty in the Institute of 
Technology, which is comprised of 
eleven academic departments covering 
engineering, computer science, and the 
physical and earth sciences. A seven-
month pilot project conducted from 
August 1991 to February 1992 demon-
strated the prospects for offering cus- · 
tomized current awareness services at 
relatively low costs. 

PURPOSE 

The· purpose of CAS was to supple-
ment the individual faculty member's 
methods and habits of keeping current 
by providing a systematic and selective 
review of recently published literature.4 

The service was intended to save faculty 
time, offer extensive coverage of the lit-
erature, and incorporate the searching 
expertise of the professional library staff. 
CAS was also to complement heavily 
used document delivery services. 

The pilot project model was conceived 
to serve the moderately large faculty 
population of the Institute of Tech-
nology. To succeed under restrictive 
budgetary circumstances, operational 
efficiencies needed to be achieved and 
costs needed to be minimized. 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

The literature contains numerous re-
ports on SDI systems and current aware-
ness services from the 1960s and early 
1970s. 5 Overviews and comparisons of 
methods are reported in more recent 
years.6 Of particular interest were dis-
cussions of locally produced, automated 
methods for providing SDI services 
which presented economic alternatives 
to commercial SDI services. The Univer-
sity of Wisconsin-Stout, a prototype 
service staff developed by which library 
staff searched commercial online data-
bases and photocopied tables of contents 
of select journals for local distribution to 
faculty and staff. 7 Texas A&M University 
experimented with front-end search 
software to upload profile search state-

March 1993 

ments to commercial online databases 
which, when possible, were searched at 
off-peak discounted rates.8 The most in-
spiring project was found at Portsmouth 
Polytechnic. There, a locally produced 
current awareness service provided re-
searchers with references from CD-
ROM, diskette, and online databases, 
with results distributed on microcomputer 
diskettes for loading into their personal 
bibliographic databases. 9 

Also reviewed was the application of 
electronic mail to support specific library 
services. Harry Uull states that using elec-
tronic communications over campus net-
works to perform library functions is not 
only efficient but also works to penetrate 
the physical and organizational barriers 
of being in different buildings and being 
members of different departments.10 Mi-
chael Buckland provides a taxonomy for 
the integration of electronic mail in li-
braries. His framework suggests numer-
ous possibilities for the application of 
e-mail to services, including the trans-
mission of tailored information updates 
to users. 11 The use of electronic networks 
for transmitting information resources is 
not uncommon in large, decentralized cor-
porate organizationsP At Lehigh Univer-
sity, the use of electronic networks for 
transmitting documents, literature searches, 
and other information products is planned 
as part of the libraries' integrated informa-
tion services.13 In this review, specific aca-
demic library application of electronic 
mail for current awareness or SDI pur-
poses was not identified. 

OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS 

Considering the SDI designs reviewed, 
five requirements of the prospective 
model were identified: 

1. A microcomputer bibliographic 
database with minimal indexing 
lag time, a frequent publication rate 
(at least monthly), and sufficient lit-
erature coverage in the disciplines 
of concern. The rationale for select-
ing a microcomputer database over 
other platforms was the cost stabil-
ity, which was ensured by a flat rate 
subscription agreement, and in-
house control, which was viewed 



as key to shaping the service to 
local needs. The increasing selection 
of major bibliographic databases for 
microcomputer searching (CD-ROM, 
diskette) was also influential. 

2. A method to create high quality lit-
erature profiles for individual fa-
culty. Results here would, more 
than anything else, affect the value 
of the service to participants in the 
project. 14 

3. The electronic delivery of search re-
sults which would expedite perish-
able information to participants, 
provide data in a format ready for 
electronic postprocessing, and min-
imize library staff processing and 
handling. 

4. A systematic method for periodic 
review and updating of profiles. . 

5. Communication between faculty 
participants and librarians about 
issues relating to the service. 

FACULTY PARTICIPANTS 

The faculty of the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering were selected as the 
test population for the pilot project. 
These faculty members were noted for 
their interdisciplinary research (an at-
tribute which would test the literature 
coverage of the selected database) and 
were established users of electronic mail. 
Of the fifty faculty members in Electrical 
Engineering, twenty-one, or 41 percent, 
agreed to participate in the pilot project. 

METHODOLOGY 

To initiate profiling, participants were 
sent a self-reporting questionnaire that 
asked them to: 

1. Detail the subject matter they wished 
to include in their profiles and to 
provide appropriate keywords and 
phrases describing the subject matter. 

2. Provide titles of journals for which 
they wanted complete table of con-
tents listings. 

3. Provide names of authors whose 
publications they wished to track. 

4. Specify language restrictions to be 
applied to search results. 

After reviewing completed question-
naires, a librarian telephoned or e-

A Current Awareness Service 117 

mailed each faculty participant. This 
proved essential for further defining the 
context and scope of specific literature 
interests and for clarifying ambiguous 
written responses on the questionnaire. 

Selected as bibliographic databases 
for the project were the weekly issued 
Current Contents on Diskette-Physical, 
Chemical, and Earth Sciences, and Current 
Contents on Diskette-Engineering, 1t:cltnology 
and Applied Sciences, (both databases re-
ferred toasCCODhereafter). Thedatabases 
met the operational requirements pre-
viously identified.15 Also, the intended use 
of the databases for this project fit within 
the vendor's single work station sub-
scription agreement.16 

Using profile information gathered 
through questionnaires and follow-up 
correspondence, logical search statements 
for each participant were formulated and 
saved with the CCOD software, which is a 
function similar to search/ save on other 
systems. A weekly routine was then in-
itiated. On receipt, new CCOD issues 
were loaded into a microcomputer, an 
IBM-compatible with a 20 MHz 386 pro-
cessor. Each profile was run against the 
two databases, with search results from 
both downloaded into a single text file. 
Downloaded files were each assigned a 
control name that would later be re-
ferred to by other computer programs in 
the e-mail procedure. Downloaded files 
were submitted to error checking pro-
cedures to identify potential operator 
error and were then ready for transmis-
sion to participants. 

Key to the e-mail component of the 
model was the University's Digital 
Equipment Corporation VAX 6000-520 
running the VMS 5.4 operating system 
and VAX/VMS Mail Utility. (It is sus-
pected that comparable hardware may 
be substituted.) The VAX is connected to 
the University Campus Internet, exter-
nal Internets, Bitnet, and DECnet. The 
Campus Internet used in this project is a 
large Ethernet-like network that makes it 
possible to provide high-speed access to 
most campus mainframe systems from al-
most any computer on campus, including 
microcomputers in local area networks 
that are in turn connected to it. 



118 College & Research Libraries 

To begin the mailing procedure, the 
microcomputer text files were uploaded 
to the VAX, using a high-speed connec-
tion to the campus Internet. Telnet and 
file transfer protocol (FfP) facilitated 
terminal emulation and file transfer, re-
spectively.17 Data were uploaded at a 
rate averaging 40KB to 64KB per second. 
When all files were confirmed as sent to 
the VAX, the files were then sent to par-
ticipants, using the VAX/VMS Mail Util-
ity and a command program created for 
this project called Automail. 

In contrast to standard e-mail distribu-
tion lists, which send one message to 
many individuals, Automail sends en 
masse numerous unique messages or 
files to numerous unique addresses. 
Used with supporting command and 
data files, Automail links the names of 
each uploaded file to the electronic 
address of the participant to which it is 
destined. 18 Once the match is made, the 
program instructs the mail utility to send 
the file to the specified address. All files 
are sent routinely without operator in-
tervention. An onscreen status report 
summarizes the mailing operations to en-
sure that all files are sent. Combined file 
transmission activities, which included 
uploading and mailing, averaged fifteen 
seconds per data file. These efficiencies 
firmly established the model's technical 
feasibility of extending the service to a 
larger faculty population. 

UPDATING PROFILES 

While requests from participants to 
modify search profiles were encouraged 
at any time, an optional review pro-
cedure was also established. Every three 
months, each participant was electroni-
cally sent his or her current profile and 
an update form to specify desired mod-
ifications. To do this efficiently, DOS batch 
files were used to assemble individual pro-
files and update forms into single text 
files, which were then transmitted to 
participants using Automail. Those 
electing to modify their profiles returned 
specifications either electronically or as 
an edited printout. The next literature 
update then reflected the changes made 
to the profile search statement. 

March 1993 

RESULTS 

For seven months, twenty-one faculty 
members received a weekly average of 
fifty-three citations from CCOD-Physical, 
Chemical, and Earth Sciences, and twenty-
nine citations from CCOD-Engineering, 
Technology and Applied Sciences. Although 
anticipated, the heavy retrieval of physics 
literature confirmed the need for inter-
disciplinary literature coverage for this 
group of engineering faculty. 

The role CAS played in personal cur-
rent awareness styles varied among par-
ticipants. For some, CAS detected re-
search that was unpredictably and in-
frequently reported in the literature, 
such as devices for the acoustic detection 
of termites. Others, nearly 25 percent, 
wished to receive unfiltered contents 
listings from selected journal titles. The 
intent here was to support what Eugene 
Garfield has referred to as "systematic 
serendipity" or the organized process of 
information discovery.19 One participant 
said, "Reviewing article titles from the 
major journals is the only way to find 
what I'm looking for. I can't design a 
keyword search strategy for crazy new 
ideas." For another, CAS provided con-
tents listings to two journals to which, at 
a combined subscription rate of $8,900 
per year, the library did not subscribe 
but could request individual articles 
through other suppliers. 

Requests for customized packaging of 
search results were accommodated when-
ever possible. For example, one partici-
pant wanted results hatched into sets 
based on his reviewing priorities. This 
allowed results needing immediate re-
view to come separate from results that 
could be reviewed when time permitted. 
Others requested results sent in particu-
lar file formats to facilitate downloading 
into their bibliographic software pack-
ages. Customizing results was an oppor-
tunity to add value to the service. It did 
not appreciably drag on the system's 
efficiency. 

EVALUATION 

Participants were surveyed to deter-
mine the set:Vice' s performance and 



value in light of their current awareness 
needs. Fifteen of twenty-one, or 72 per-
cent, of the participants responded. A 
summary of responses is provided in 
table 1. 

The survey also solicited comments on 
the service's strengths and weaknesses. 
Most frequently cited strengths were 
savings of time and the identification of 
relevant publications that would other-
wise be overlooked. The electronic 
delivery of results was praised as con-
venient and as lending itself to sub-
sequent retrieval and processing of 
search results loaded into personal files. 
Also, the use of e-mail to specify profile 
modifications was considered efficient 
and responsive. It is believed that the 
active role participants played in peri-
odically reviewing and rejuvenating 
their own profiles raised the level of 
vested interest in the service and, con-
sequently, the quality of the results. 

Among the cited weaknesses was ex-
cessive quantities of citations and, in 
some instances, duplicate citations re-
ceived. The overabundance of citations 
was frequently attributed to profiles that 
requested full contents listings of such 
titles as Physical Review-Band the Journal 
of Applied Physics, which typically have 
100 to 300 articles per issue. On realizing 
this, many participants adjusted their 
profiles. Duplicate citations resulted 
from overlapping coverage of several 
journal titles by the two sections of CCOD. 
Additional programming to prevent du-
plicate citations was later applied to pro-
files where this was a problem.20 

COSTS 

Also analyzed were the direct costs of 
the pilot project, which were defined as 
expenses that would have not occurred 
without the project. On that basis, direct 
costs of providing the service to additional 
faculty were projected. Both actual and 
projected costs are presented in table 2. As 
shown, direct costs per faculty member 
per week are projected to decrease as the 
number of participants increases. 

Labor of professional staff and that of 
clerical staff was analyzed, too, and is 
presented in table 3. The values shown 

A Current Awareness Service 119 

TABLEt 
EVALUATION SUMMARY 

(N = 15) 

Response % 

Overall performance of service 

Excellent 

Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Relevance of citations sent 

Mostly relevant 

Often relevant 

Sometimes relevant 

Seldom relevant 

Quantity of c~tations sent 

Too much 

About right 

Too little 

46.6 

40.0 

13.3 

0.0 

26.6 

46.6 

26.6 

0.0 

26.6 

73.3 

0.0 

Frequency of updating profile to keep up with 
research focus 

Less than once a year 6.6 

Once a year 6.6 

Every 6 months 40.0 

Every 3 months 46.6 

Presently downloading CAS results into 
personal database 

Yes 20.0 

I don't download but would 
like to 73.3 

No, I have no interest 6.6 

Interest in group profiles in your department 

A lot of interest 6.6 

Moderate interest 40.0 

Slight interest 

No interest 

46.6 

6.6 

Importance of the Current Awareness Service 
continuing 

Very important 73.3 

Important 

Slightly important 

Unimportant 

26.6 

0.0 

0.0 



120 College & Research Libraries March 1993 

TABLE2 
DIRECT COSTs-ACTUAL AND PROJECTED 

(IN DOLLARS PER FACULTY MEMBER PER WEEK) 

Number of Faculty 

Item 21 (actual) 50 100 200 

Current contents: 

Physical/Chemical/Earth sciences 
. 

$ .36 .15 .08 .04 

Current contents: 

Engineering/Technology I Applied sciences 
. 

.36 .15 .08 .04 

Mainframe computing 
.. 

.28 .28 .27 .25 

Microcomputer LAN access .07 .03 .02 .01 

Supplies (floppy disks, paper files) .01 .01 .01 .01 

Total $1.08 .62 .46 .35 

"These databases are part of the units's reference collection, as each is loaded on a public access 
microcomputer. Funding for them would likely continue, regardless of this project. Therefore, 
whether their costs belong in full, in part, or in any way to the project is subject to discussion. 

,.,.Potential, not actual, costs for mainframe computing are shown. Actual costs to the project was 
1/20 of the amount represented. -A university computing grant allows the library $1,000 of 
computing time for $50 actual expenditure. Comparable grants are available at other universities. 

for professional staff time are based on the 
average total time commitment per partic-
ipant over the test period, then calcu-
lated to a per week/per participant unit. 
Note, though, that the activities of pro-
fessional staff tended not to be routine 
or evenly distributed over time, but 
rather heavily concentrated in the 

TABLE3 
LABOR (IN HOURS PER 

FACULTY MEMBER PER WEEK) 

Professional Oerical 
Activity Staff Staff 

Profiling faculty . 03 

Creating search 
profiles .01 

Communications with 
participants .01 

Running profiles/ 
downloading 
results .05 

Error checking .01 

Mainframe computing 
(e-mail) .01 

Record keeping .02 

Total .05 .09 

earlystagesofanindividual'sparticipa-
tion (in profiling and creation of search 
profileactivities). 

The requirements of professional time 
per participant are projected to remain 
the same, regardless of the number of 
participants, as profiling activities were, 
and would continue to be, largely unaf-
fected by automation. However, reduc-
tions in clerical staff time may be 
realized through additional automation. 
For example, an auxiliary program to run 
the profiles in a batch process would vir-
tually eliminate the largest expenditure 
of clerical staff time and would signifi-
cantly reduce indirect costs . 

Assuming rates of $15 per hour for 
professional staff and $8 per hour for 
clerical staff, the total cost per partici-
pant per week was $2.55 (for twenty-one 
participants). The projected total cost of 
serving larger numbers of individuals 
are $2.09 per participant/ per week for 
fifty participants; $1.93 for 100; and $1.82 
for 200. Depending on the total number 
.of participants, labor accounts for 58 to 
81 percent of the total cost. This is impor-
tant to note because many cost analyses 
of current awareness services represent 
only direct costs, as usually paid to a 



commercial vendor, and do not factor 
the costs of profiling activities or as-
sociated clerical activities. 

The unit costs of CAS held clear 
economic advantage over delivering sim-
ilar services through commercially based 
SDI services. To compare, a competitive 
online vendor offers SDI updates in Cur-
rent Contents for 75 cents per bibliographic 
citation, plus $5.50 per weekly update, or 
$7 per biweekly update. A realistic por-
trayal of costs, using commercial services, 
is seen in the University of Wisconsin-
Stout program, which reported $17 per 
month per participant for SDI updates and 
citation charges alone.21 Again, these are 
just the direct costs paid to the vendor and 
exclude the costs of labor associated with 
profile creation and management and 
handling of search results. 

CONCLUSION 

Faculty and researchers in many dis-
ciplines require a constant flow of current 
and often highly specialized information. 
An enterprising library response is to 
develop ongoing individualized infor-
mation services. Though challenging 
economically, certain technological effi-
ciencies present opportunities to min-
imize costs. Here, the CAS pilot project 
demonstrated an economical method for 
providing current awareness services by 
using relatively inexpensive microcom-
puter databases and e-mail. 

The service was well received. A 
frequently voiced reaction by faculty 
was that the service exceeded their ex-
pectations of what the library could or 
would be willing to do for them as in-
dividuals. This spoke not only to the 
primary function of the service-provid-
ing tailored literature searches-but also 
to accommodating requests for special 
formatting and packaging of results. In 
evaluation, the service was rated highly 
overall, and as an indicator of its value, 
three-quarters of respondents reported 
the continuation of the service as "very 
important to their academic activities." 
Faculty's embrace of electronic mail as 
the conduit for the service was instru-

A Current Awareness Service 121 

mental in achieving operational effi-
ciency. Because of that, expanding the 
service to include the larger faculty 
population can proceed. 

It is believed that the active role 
participants played in periodically 
reviewing and rejuvenating their 
own profiles raised the level of 
vested interest in the service and, 
consequently, the quality of the 
results. 

Also key to expanding the service is 
the staff's view that providing current 
awareness services to faculty fits well 
within their roles as librarian-academic 
department liaisons. A clear · benefit to 
librarians is that information gathered in 
the initial and ongoing profiling activities 
·can be applied to their collection develop-
ment planning. As a logical extension of 
the service, future involvement of the 
staff may include advising faculty on the 
selection and implementation of per-
sonal bibliographic database software 
for the postprocessing of CAS results. 
Also, theautomatice-mail program imple-
mented here brings to mind numerous 
possibilities for disseminating other cus-
tom-generated information sources to fa-
culty, researchers, and research groups. 

Of the many reasons why customized 
information services deserve serious con-
sideration in the academic library, perhaps 
one of the best, yet least recognized, is the 
framework such services provide for 
building productive faculty-librarian rela-
tionships. Robert Grover and Martha Hale 
propose that academic librarians tran-
scend their traditional reactive or passive 
modes of service and become integral 
players in the research efforts of faculty. 
Only then will librarians really under-
stand the research process and, con-
sequently, the information resources and 
services needed to support it.22 By extend-
ing individualized services to faculty, the 
CAS pilot project became an instrument 
for developing such involvement. 



122 College & Research Libraries March 1993 

REFERENCES AND NOTES 
1. Scientists' use of formal and informal channels of communicating research results is 

investigated by F. W. Lancaster and Linda C. Smith, "Science, Scholarship and the 
Communication of Knowledge," Library Trends 27 (Winter 1978): 367-88; Robert S. 
Allen, "Physics Information and Scientific Communication: Information Sources and 
Communication Patterns," Science & Technology Libraries 11 (Spring 1991): 27-38; and 
by William D. Garvey, Communication: The Essence of Science (Elsford, N.Y.: Pergamon 
Press, 1979). 

2. Derek J. de Solla ~rice, Little Science, Big Science ... and Beyond (New York: Columbia 
Univ. Pr., 1986), 1-29; Charles L. Bernier and A. Neil Yerkey, Cogent Communication: 
Overcoming Reading Overload (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1979), 31-44; Wilfred 
Ashworth, "The Information Explosion," Library Association Record 76 (Apr. 1974): 63-8; 
and J. M. Ziman, "The Proliferation of Scientific Literature: A Natural Process," Science 
208 (Apr. 25, 1980): 369-71. A contrasting viewpoint is presented by Eugene Garfield, 
"In Truth, The 'Flood' of Scientific Literature Is Only a Myth," The Scientist 5 (Sept. 2, 
1991): 11, 25. 

3. Though there are unprecedented degrees of specialization in the sciences, the amount 
and range of literature required have increased because of the intertwining of disci-
plines. See Garvey, Communication, 107; Lancaster and Smith, "Science, Scholarship and 
the Communication of Knowledge," 382; and H. W. Koch, The Federal Government and 
Research Museums and Libraries of the Future (New York: American Institute of Physics, 
Information Division, 1970). 

4. This is similar to stated purposes of many current awareness services, such as those 
presented by H. P. Luhn, "Selective Dissemination of New Scientific Information with 
the Aid of Electronic Processing Equipment," American Documentation 12 (Apr. 1961): 
131-38; and those reviewed by John H. Schneider, "Selective Dissemination and 
Indexing of Scientific Information," Science 173 (July 23, 1971): 300-8. 

5. Van A. Wente and Gifford A. Young, "Current Awareness and Dissemination," Annual 
Review of Information Science and Technology 5 (1970): 259-95; Roger L. Meyer, Amy J. 
Meskin, John J. Mracek, James H. Schwartz, and Emma C. Wheelihan, "A Systematic 
Approach to Current Awareness and SOl," Journal of Chemical Documentation 11 (February 
1971): 19-24; Edward M. Housman, "Selective Dissemination of Information," Annual 
Review of Information Science and Technology 8 (1973): 221-41; and George R. 
Mauerhoff, "Selective Dissemination of Information," Advances in Librarianship 4 
(1974): 25-62. 

6. Giuliana A. Lavendel, "SOl in Scientific and Technical Libraries: An Overview of the 
Options, Science and Technology Libraries 2 (Fall 1981): 3-16; Tom Whitehall," Alterna-
tives for Current Awareness Services," in Practical Current Awareness Services from 
Libraries, ed. Tom Whitehall (Brookfield, Vt.: Gower Publishing, 1986), 1-14; Sushila 
Kapadia and Janice Rettino, "SOl Service at the Library of the College of Medicine and 
Dentistry of New Jersey: Developments and Future Trends," Science and Technology 
Libraries 2 (Fall1981): 17-29. 

7. John J. Jax and Van C. Houlson, "A Current Awareness Service for Faculty and Staff: 
The Stout Experience," College & Research Libraries 49 (Nov. 1988): 514-22. 

8. William R. Kinyon and Rosemary Loomis, "Current Awareness: Are Front-End Sys-
tems the Answer?" in Proceedings of the Eighth National Online Meeting, New York, May 
5-7, 1987, comp. by Martha E. Williams and Thomas H. Hogan (Medford, New Jersey: 
Learned Information, 1987), 245-51. 

9. Terry Hanson, "The Electronic Current Awareness Service and the Use of Pro-Cite at 
Portsmouth Polytechnic," in Proceedings of the 14th International Online Information 
Meeting, London, Dec. 11-13, 1990, ed. David I. Raitt (Medford, N.J.: Learned Informa-
tion, 1991), 277-87. 

10. Harry Llull, "Meeting the Academic and Research Information Needs of Scientists and 
Engineers in the University Environment," Science and Technology Libraries 11 (Spring 
1991): 83-90. 

11. Michael K. Buckland, "Combining Electronic Mail with Online Retrieval in a Library 
Context," Information Technology and Libraries 6 (Dec. 1987): 266-71. 



12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 
20. 

21. 
22. 

A Current Awareness Service 123 

Giuliana Lavendel, "Xerox Network: A True Believer's View," Science and Technology 
Libraries 8 (Winter 1987 /1988): 31-39; Donald T. Hawkins, "Use of Machine-Readable 
Databases to Support a Large SDI Service," Information Processing and Management 21 
(1985): 187-204; W. David Penniman and Donald T. Hawkins, "The Library Network 
at AT&T," Science and Technology Libraries 8 (Winter 1987 /88): 3-24; and Helen M. 
Manning, "WE DELIVER: Libraries and Information Delivery at Texas Instruments," 
Science and Technology Libraries 11 (Fall1990): 69-76. 
Berry G. Richards and Jean M. Johnson, "Electronic Delivery of Information via a 
Campus-Wide Network," Science and Technology Libraries 11 (Fall1990): 5--17. 
SDI pioneer Luhn recognized the importance of carefully conducted profiling activities 
to SDI services back in 1961: "The creation and maintenance of profiles of the partici-
pants of the service is the most important and, at the same time, the most critical task 
within the system. People's interests vary widely as to scope and breadth, and there 
are no easy means, short of human analysis, to define those interests." See Luhn, 
"Selective Dissemination," 137. 
For a review of CCOD, see J. H. Powell, "Current Contents on Diskette: A Review," 
CD-ROM Professional 3 (Sept. 1990): 39-44. Also note that, in 1991, Current Contents 
with Abstracts were commercially introduced, providing author-supplied abstracts for 
several sections of CCOD. 
The Institute for Scientific Information, producers of CCOD, considered electronic 
distribution of search results acceptable under the single work station subscription 
agreement so long as data transmitted was directed to individuals within the organi-
zation holding the subscription and as long as the CCOD database, or any part thereof, 
did not reside on a network that would allow multiple user access. 
Telnet is a network program that allows a local and remote computer, which may be 
of a variety of terminal and computer types, to communicate over the Internet. File 
Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the protocol and program used to transfer files between 
Internet systems. Files may consist of text, graphics, sound, software, or other infor-
mation types. 
Supporting files for Automail were a command file which defines an alias e-mail 
address for each participant. Here, the alias is identical to the file name assigned to the 
microcomputer files as it is downloaded from the bibliographic database. Also used 
was a data file, listing the aliases through which the Automail program loops. 
Eugene Garfield, Essays of an Information Scientist vol. 1 (Philadelphia: lSI Press, 1977), 37. 
Current Contents on Diskette search soft.ware version 3.0 supports multiple issue 
searching, systematically eliminating duplicate citations between simultaneously 
searched sections. 
Jax and Houlson, "A Current Awareness Service for Faculty and Staff," 520-21. 
Robert Grover and Martha L. Hale, "The Role of the Librarian in Faculty Research," 
College & Research Libraries 49 (Jan. 1988): 9-15. 



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