Current Awareness Services

I ) Give three reasons for the need for current awareness services 
The CAS is needed for the following reasons
a) Proliferation of publications in a variety of forms and languages, carrying valuable
information and knowledge.
b) Persons involved in developmental activities like scientists, engineers, managers,
planners, etc., are finding it extremely difficult to keep themselves abreast of current
developments due to proliferation of literature.
c) In the absence of any speedy alerting information services, these persons will not
be able to survive professionally in the present competitive world.

2) State the merits and demerits of Contents-by-Journal Service.
The merits and demerits of Contents-by-Journal Service are given below

3)List the four different types  of CAS
 The four types of CAS are :
a) Contents-by-journal;
b) Current awareness lists or documentation bulletins;
c) Research-in-progress bulletins; and
d) Newspaper clipping service.

4) Give a definition of Selective Dissemination of Information. 
Selective Dissemination of Information is an information service of an organisation that concerns itself with machine-assisted channeling of new items of information from whatever source to those points within the organisation where the probability of usefulness, in connection with current work or interest, is high.

5)Name the components of SDl system. 
The four components of SDI are:
a) A document database,
b) A set of user profiles,
c) A mechanism to match document descriptions with user descriptions and
d) A User-SDI  interface that includes notifications of current reference and mechanism for feedback.

6) State the features of a user profile. 
The features of user~profile include :
a) Particulars of user's educational and professional background, current duties and responsibilities, etc.
b) Subject of user's interest in terms of key words.
c) A few titles of papers relevant to user's interest.
d) Names of authors active in the field.
e) Institutions active in the field.
f) Any other non-subject interest.
g) Comprehensive search or specific search.
The information pertaining to all these are obtained by circulating a questionnaire or
user profile form which would provide vital data for analysis, the results of which
would guide the SDI service personnel.

7) State in five or six lines the current trends in SDI.
With the advent of online databases and telecommunication networks, SDI is becoming more centralized. Online vendors offer SDI at considerably less cost and provide far better access to the world's output of information than was possible in the past. Further, advances in computer and communication technologies make it possible to provide whatever type of information is required such as titles, abstracts and full text of papers including graphics and photographs.

KEY WORDS
Database: A collection of data stored in computer. The data is integrated and cross
referenced so that different people can access it for different purposes.
Feedback: A reaction to a message communicated.
Interface: Connection between two systems or two parts of the same system.
Profile : Outline of an object.
Questionnaire : A set of questions presented in a specific order for eliciting answers or reactions from a respondent which can be analysed for drawing usable information.
Tailored:To adapt to a particular purpose or use.
User Profile : An expression of user interest as a combination of subject and nonsubject
terms.
Venn Diagram: A diagram that uses circles to represent sets and their relationships,
named after John Venn, an English logician.

Source: IGNOU Study Material