Current awareness is the term used to describe staying informed by keeping up to date with the latest publications, research and news in your field.
The perspective of current awareness is the present and the forthcoming, as opposed to the retrospective.
Current awareness ranges from looking for information on specific topics on a regular basis (and this usually involves the assistance of your Personal Librarian to help you set up your search profile) to embracing a wider, more general, and cross-disciplinary view that brings an element of serendipity into your search for the latest information.
Informally, researchers remain alert in all contexts for useful information and insights that will inform their daily practice, their research and spark off innovative and creative ideas for new avenues of research.
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Website of the Month
November's website of the month is:
In July 2010, the UN General Assembly established UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Take a look at the Digital Library at this site which offers over 160 documents of varying depth (e.g. 'Within our reach: Solutions to end violence against women and girls') and 83 brief educational videos (e.g. UN Women - The Autocomplete Truth and CEDAW Quick & Concise: Explaining the Principle of Substantive Equality)
The year is marked with many special days, weeks, and months dedicated and devoted to raising awareness about important issues.
This monthly post will note special dates and themes, and draw your attention to possibly interesting cross-disciplinary topical references intended to inform and to inspire ideas for research.
Selected Noteworthy Days in November 2014:
1 - 30 Nov Movember [Grow a moustache to raise funds and to show support for men's health issues - prostate and testicular cancer in particular.]
2 Nov United Nations International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists [See also the official site of the Committee to Protect Journalists for more information.]
5 Nov Guy Fawkes Day See Kgosana, Rorisang (2014) 'Guy Fawkes Day: Check regulations' Pretoria Moot Rekord, 5 November and 'It's fireworks season: how to keep your pets safe' (2014) posted on myjoburg.com on 3 November
6 Nov United Nations World Science Day for Peace and Development 2014
11 Nov Armistice Day or Remembrance Day See also Davies, Caroline (2014) 'First World War centenary marked on Armistice Day' The Guardian, 11 November
14 Nov United Nations World Diabetes Day
16 Nov United Nations International Day for Tolerance
16 Nov United Nations Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims [See also the dedicated Remembrance site and the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020]
19 Nov United Nations World Toilet Day [From UN site: "While a vast majority of the world's population has access to mobile phones, one third of humanity (2.5 billion people) do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets or latrines, with dramatic consequences [for] human health, dignity and security, the environment, and social and economic development."
20 Nov United Nations Universal Children's Day
20 Nov Africa Industrialisation Day
20 - 22 Nov 47th GWK Cherry Festival (Ficksburg, Eastern Free State)
21 Nov United Nations World Philosophy Day
21 Nov United Nations World Televison Day [See also the Universal Service Agency of South Africa's recommendations as to the qualifying criteria for poor TV-owning households to gain access to STBs to enable reception of digital signals and access to digital broadcasting services in terms of section 88(4) of the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005: Qualifying Criteria for the Set-Top-Box Scheme of Ownership and Support published in Government Gazette, vol 592, no 38134, 28 October 2014, pp 1-8.]
22 Nov Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day
25 Nov International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women
25 Nov - 10 Dec 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children
29 Nov United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
29 Nov Bird Life South Africa 30th Annual Birding Big Day 2014
Ursula Le Guin receives Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at National Book Awards Michel, Lincoln (2014) 'Watch Ursula K. Le Guin's amazing NBA acceptance speech', posted on Electric Lit on 20 November [links to video of 6 minute speech and provides transcript.]
Green anole lizard in Florida demonstrates the speed of evolution when habitat invaded by brown anole lizard introduced by human pet trade See Stuart, YE et al. (2014) 'Rapid evolution of a native species following invasion by a congener' Science, vol 346, pp 463-466.
Leukaemia drug may protect brain from effects of Alzheimer's See Rahman, Khaleda (2014) 'Could a cancer drug hold the key to fighting dementia? Scientists find leukaemia medication could reverse effects of Alzheimer's disease' Mail Online, 1 November.
Alzheimer's Disease International releases 2014 Report See World Alzheimer Report 2014: Dementia and risk reduction: An analysis of protective and modifiable factors
Medical breakthrough: paralysed man walking again See Paddock, Catharine 'Paralyzed man walks again after nose cells repair his spinal cord' Medical News Today, 21 October.
Seven year old North Carolina boy receives $20 plastic hand made by a 3D printer View video clip and see Chung, Kristen (2014) 'UNC student builds prosthetic hand for 7-year-old using 3-D printer' The Daily Tar Heel, 21 October.
'Predictable App' 'Predictable App' allows people lliving with Motor Neurone Disease to communicate using a banked version of their own voice [includes video from Sky News, 1 November]
Many strokes are reversible if treated urgently (at least within three hours). Find your nearest Stroke Unit and see the MyStroke website for more detailed information.
US Capital Dome restoration project Iconic United States Capital Dome will spend next two years hidden from view by scaffolding [23 October]
Abducted Nigerian schoolgirls "married off" See Karimi, Faith and Abubakar, Aminu (2014) 'Boko Haram leader denies ceasefire deal, says 200 abducted girls married off' CNN, 2 November.
China's unmanned lunar orbiter returns safely after 8 days in space See Kremer, Ken (2014) 'Chinese unmanned lunar orbiter returns home safely, paves path for ambitious lunar sample return' Universe Today, 2 November.
After ten years in space, European Space Agency Rosetta mission lands Philae probe safely on comet See European Space Agency (2014) 'Touchdown! Rosetta's Philae probe lands on comet', 12 November.
Italy and Britain scale back maritime rescue to discourage migrants and refugees See Brady, Hugo (2014) 'Mare Europaeum? Tackling Mediterranean migration' Brief Issue No 25 (European Institute for Security Studies), pp 1-4 and Human Rights Watch (2014) 'EU: Act to save lives at sea', 8 October.
World Economic Forum releases Gender Gap Report See The Global Gender Gap Report 2014
International Labour Organization releases World of Work 2014 report See World of Work 2014: Developing with jobs
Digital version of Textus Roffensis (1123-1124 AD), legal encyclopaedia, now available See Paddison, Kath (2014) 'A book 100 years older than the Magna Carta goes digital' 5 November, University of Manchester, and view the manuscript here: Textus Roffensis.
The Current Awareness Archive is arranged first by month, in descending chronological order.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you cannot find what you are looking for.
If you are looking for 2014's forthcoming conferences, the following websites are helpful:
This month's Golden Oldie publication is the following article aimed at the scientific poster designer, but which may have useful information for anyone preparing a conference poster:
Purrington, Colin (1997-2014) 'Designing conference posters', available at: http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign.