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 a search profile matched to your research interests) 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
Research Starters
Research Starters offers short, citable summaries of more than 64,000 popular topics. The database is available when searching the Encore Library database, and is listed as a Content Provider.
In the context of Marine month, we found the following article:
Oceans, by Carlson, Roger V., Wells, Robert J., Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science, January, 2016
Water is an excellent solvent, so seawater contains more than sixty dissolved elements or their salts. The major constituent percentages of seawater...
Website of the Month
Marine research and conservation projects in South Africa - Oceans Research
Oceans Research provides and facilitates innovative and dynamic research relevant to the management and conservation of Southern Africa’s wildlife.
Research is ranging from biological to socio-economic studies of marine and terrestrial resource utilisation in Southern Africa’s coastal society.
Oceans Research offers multi-disciplinary practical and theoretical training for aspiring researchers from internship to postgraduate levels in conjunction with partner schools, technical colleges and universities.
Oceans Research strives to divulgate its research finding not only to the scientific community but also, and even more importantly, to the general public, through its website, media releases, scientific and popular articles, and documentaries.
The year is marked with many special days, weeks, and months dedicated and devoted to raising awareness about important issues.
This monthly post, compiled by the Information Search Librarians Team, 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
National Marine Month creates awareness of South Africa's marine and coastal environments and the benefits that our oceans bring to our nation.
Under the theme: “Together we move South Africa Forward,” Government will showcase transport infrastructure services in aviation; maritime; public transport and roads. This month will also be used to further advance the country’s road safety initiatives.October:
This year Social Development Month it is commemorated under the theme, “Working Together to Build Caring and
Sustainable Communities for All.” In addition the first Sunday in October is celebrated as Grandparents Day.
12 Oct: World Sight Day
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.
14 Oct: World Food Day (FAO)
World Food Day provides an occasion to highlight the plight of 870 million undernourished people in the world. Global warming and the biofuel boom are now threatening to push the number of hungry even higher.
15 Oct: International Day of Rural Women
This day, established in 2007, recognises “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”
15 Oct: Global Handwashing Day
Since the first Global Handwashing Day in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries, Global Handwashing Day is spreading the word about the simplicity and value of clean hands.
17 Oct: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
This day is designated to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries. Fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals.
24 Oct: World Polio Day
This day aims to increase awareness about polio virus and to encourage further actions to reduce it from spreading. The commemoration of the day also highlights the success of global strategies in reducing the spread of the disease.
31 Oct: World Cities Day
The Day is expected to greatly promote the international community's interest in global urbanisation, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanisation, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.
Events
5 - 7 Oct ICT IN THE CLASSROOM CONFERENCE
SchoolNet SA will be celebrating 20 years of leading change in ICT integration for teaching and learning.
6 Oct FINDING NEW WAYS FOR WOMEN TO LEAD IN LAW JOHANNESBURG 2017
It convenes preeminent women in law including law firm partners and associates, in-house counsel, judges, government officials, law school professors, and law students.
6 Oct UP JAZZ CONCERT
The line-up includes world-renowned artists Lenora Helm Hammonds, Mageshen Naidoo and Sundar Viswanathan as well as Jesse Mogale, CAFCA and the Tshwane School of Music.
28 - 29 Oct Cape Town International Kite Festival
Kiters from China, England, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa and the USA will be there to show that almost anything can fly.
Should you wish to read Current Awareness guides of previous years, visit the Archive.
If you are looking for 2017's forthcoming conferences, the following websites are helpful:
Environmental Provisions in a New South African Bill of Rights - Jan Glazewski
Journal of African Law, Vol. 37, No. 2, Law and the Environment in Africa (Autumn, 1993), pp. 177-184
Topics: Environmental conservation, Bill of Rights, Environmental legislation,Ecological sustainability, Environmental protection, Fundamental rights,Environmental politics, Sustainable development, Human rights, Environmental regulation
The Food Resources of the Ocean - S. J. Holt
Scientific American, Vol. 221, No. 3 (September 1969), pp. 178-197
Topics: Oceans, Marine fishes, Fishing, Ocean fisheries, Food security, Fish byproducts, Seas, Fishery resources
The Chimera of Redistribution in Post-Apartheid South Africa: 'Black Economic Empowerment' (BEE) in Industrial Fisheries - Stefano Ponte, Lance van Sittert
African Affairs, Vol. 106, No. 424 (Jul., 2007), pp. 437-462
Topics: Fishery economics, Hake, Fishing industry, Economic capital, Fishing, Common fisheries policy, Fishery resources, Ocean fisheries, Fisheries management