Library Mashups for the Virtual Campus: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Create a New Current Awareness Service

This article explores the ways academic libraries can exploit Web 2.0 technologies and techniques to create Current Awareness Service (CAS) mashups for campus virtual environments. Described are Portland State University Library’s efforts to create a CAS site called “Topic Watch;” the criteria used to select humanities and business content for the project; and an overview of the technology employed to combine data from disparate sources into the service. Also summarized are the challenges and issues the library faced during development and future steps to be taken to incorporate the new resource into the campus virtual environment. Introduction The need for academic library support of remote learning continues to expand, as many campuses strengthen distance learning programs and users of all types continue to access library collections and services from offcampus. Users rely on libraries to help sift through sometimes overwhelming amounts of information, but may at times need alternatives to traditional library instruction and reference services. Libraries have responded to this reality by publishing electronic research guides and tutorials while integrating help content and virtual reference services into their Websites. Complementary components of these efforts are Web-based Current Awareness Services (CAS), designed to help time-constrained users keep abreast of the latest developments, issues, and activities related to selected topics in their academic fields. Current Awareness Services in Libraries: An Overview CAS has had a long history in the library world, although mostly within the special and corporate library realm. But what exactly is current awareness? Kemp defines it as: a system or publication for reviewing newly available documents, selecting items relevant to the needs of an individual or group, and recording them so that notifications may be sent to those...to whose needs they are related (Kemp 1999). According to Fourie, academic libraries did not historically implement CAS because such services were Linda Absher is Humanities Librarian, Portland State University, ewmail: absherl@pdx.edu. Adriene Lim is Systems Librarian/Assistant Professor, Portland State University, email: alim@pdx.edu. Kerry Wu is Business Librarian/Assistant Professor, Portland State University, email: wuq@pdx.edu. Linda Absher, Adriene Lim, and Kerry Wu 120 ACRL Thirteenth National Conference paper-based and labor-intensive (Fourie 1999). Before the prevalence of the Internet, CAS entailed a high level of human intermediation to provide a consistent stream of updates, making the service difficult to sustain. However, with the arrival of the Internet and more importantly the World Wide Web, some academic librarians have posited the view that the ubiquity of electronic and online resources makes CAS a relevant and invaluable service for academic libraries. As recently as 1999, Fourie updated the definition of CAS for the online age as: Selection of one or more systems that provide notification of the existence of new entities added to the system’s database or of which the system took note (e.g., documents, Websites, events such as conferences, discussion groups, editions of newsletters). Current awareness services automatically notify users or allow users to check periodically for updates (Fourie 1999). In terms of CAS during the pre-Web 2.0 era, academic librarians provided services still requiring constant intermediation, such as monitoring a variety of online services, filtering results, and delivering updates via an electronic list or e-mail updates (Fourie 1999; Williamson 2004). With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and their abilities to push and pull content in new ways, CAS mashups give libraries the potential to maintain CAS offerings for end users with less need for significant intervention. Web-based Current Awareness Services in Academic Libraries Most electronic CAS offered by academic libraries to date provide literature/title updates from table of content resources or alert users to new library acquisitions, with blogs being an increasingly preferred delivery mode. Three services stand out as noteworthy: Zetoc from the University of Manchester and the British Library; ECommerce Alert from the University of Alberta; and Trial Ad Notes, authored by a librarian at the University of Washington’s School of Law Library. Zetoc: A CAS providing relevant literature titles by way of the British Library’s Electronic Table of