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The Cheng Library offers several online databases that provide automated services to support your research needs. This page describes the Current Awareness Services now available through several of the Library’s databases and provides instructions to help you get started.
A Current Awareness Service will help you keep up-to-date with published research in your field. The two most common types of service offered through our databases are:
Because current awareness services are customized to your individual preferences, it will be necessary for you set up a personal account in the database you select. This process requires you to complete a simple form and establish an individual username and password.
Once created, personal accounts are easy to edit. You may add and remove journals from a table of contents alert service or make changes to any automated searches you have established. If you need help setting up or managing an account, please contact the Cheng Library Reference Department at 973-720-2116 or by email at refdesk@wpunj.edu.
Bowker's Books In Print database provides access to in-print, out-of-print, and forthcoming books, videos, and audio materials. Its Alert Service enables you to save and automatically run searches customized to your criteria, with monthly email notification of new items in the database.
How It Works: To use the service, you must first create a personal account by following these steps:
You can now conduct a search in the database. When you have settled on a set of search criteria that meet your specifications, run the search and select the "Save My Search" button from the top of the Search Results screen. You will be prompted to login to your personal Alerts account using your email address and password. After logging in, you will need to complete a simple form in which you give your search a name and specify whether you want an automated search to run. A few other options are available. At the present time, automated search results are emailed on a monthly basis. You can login to your Alert account at any time to edit or delete a saved or automated search.
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CSA's automated search service is available through the search screens in Animal Behavior Abstracts.
How It Works: To use the service, you must first enter and run a search in the database. From the results list screen, select the "Save Search/Alert" button just above the first item on the list. A "Current Searches" screen displaying your search will appear. Mark your search and select the "Save as Alerts" link near the top right section of the search description. button. A screen to create your account will appear. Enter your email address and a password, then select the "Continue" button. The final "Alert Preferences" screen allows you to edit your search, add a name or comments to it, and save it. The search will then be run each week for five months. When the search retrieves new items, an email message with this information will be sent.
You can retrieve and edit (or delete) and alerts you have created in the database by following these steps:
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The CLIO Alert Profile service allows you to create up to ten different searches that can be run in one or both of ABC-CLIO's history databases each month.
How It Works: To set up the searches you must first create a "profile" account by selecting the “CLIO Alert Profile” link from the opening screen of either database and then selecting the “Create a New Profile” link on the next screen. You must complete a web-based form to activate your account and access the “CLIO Alert Profile Editor” screen. Each search (or “Alert“) is created and saved on the editor page using a simple form that allows you to access important search fields in the database. Your profile and all alerts can be modified at any time, and automated searches are delivered in a single email message each month.
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EBSCOhost's automated search service is available through the Advanced Search screen in each of the databases listed above.
How It Works: To use the service, you must first enter and run a search in a database using the Advanced Search screen. From the results list screen, select the "Search History/Alerts" tab just above the first item on the list. Then select the “Save Searches/Alerts" link from the menu appearing above your search. This will take you to the "My EBSCOhost" login screen and a personal account login prompt will appear. To create your account, select the "I'm a new user" link on the left side of the screen and complete the online form. Once your account is created, you can save your search as an alert. You may select the frequency by which the search is run (daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly) for up to one year. Citations to new items matching your search will be delivered to your email address.
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The ingenta database offers current awareness services for over 26,000 publications, making it one of the most comprehensive tools for keeping up-to-date with new scholarship.
How It Works: From the opening screen select the button to “Sign Up Now” and then select the “Personal Registration” button to access the registration form. After completing all required fields, select the “Continue” button at the bottom of the screen to create your account. Your personal “My Subscriptions” page will appear. You may create table of contents alerts (using the “My Table of Contents” button) and automated searches (using the “My Research Alerts” button). To use the service again, just login using the username and password you created and select the “Manage My ingenta” button to access the services menu. A user’s guide for ingenta's current awareness services - in PDF format - is also available from the alert pages.
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The Project Muse e-journal collection provides access to over 220 journals from 36 scholarly publishers, with an emphasis on subjects in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. The Cheng Library offers full-text access to 56 journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, but table of contents alerts are available for all titles in the collection.
How It Works: The link above will take you to the Project Muse Journal Alerts signup/login screen. Signing up requires only an email address. The screen includes command options to select journals for table of contents alerts by title, subject area, or publisher. You can also view and modify your current selections, change the email address to which your alerts are sent, and stop receiving alerts at any time.
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ScienceDirect offers access to over 1,500 major journals, including all journals published by Elsevier Science and Academic Press.
How It Works: To use ScienceDirect's current awareness services, you must first create a personal login account. From the opening screen, select the “My Alerts” button near the top of the screen and then select the “Register Now” link on the next page. Complete the brief registration form and submit it to create your account. The database automatically generates a username and sends an email message to confirm your registration. Use your new username and password to login to ScienceDirect and access the “My Alerts” page. From the “My Alerts” page you can create automated searches (Search Alerts) and table of contents alerts for new issues of journals you select from the database (Journal Issue Alerts). ScienceDirect also offers a Citation Alerts service, enabling you to be notified by email when a selected article is cited by new articles in the database.