Current Awareness for Business Researchers
This guide lists tools and resources, in library databases or freely available via the Web, that can assist business
researchers to keep up to date with anything from general business news to new research on a specialized topic.
A web version of this guide is available on the David Lam Library website under Current Awareness:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/lam
Contents:
1. Methods for receiving alerts
2. Types of alerts
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New at the David Lam Library
Business News
Government information
Journal alerts
Database search alerts
Working paper alerts
Citation alerts
Other alerts
Photo credit: Harshil.Shah
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshilshah/1261040258/
Methods for Receiving Alerts
Depending on the source of information, you can receive alerts via e-mail (requires registration), RSS, via SMS
to your mobile device or through Twitter.
RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is one method of receiving new information alerts, which enables you to feed
the latest news, tables of contents from journals or magazines, or results from database searches, directly to
your web browser or to a free RSS reader. A short video about RSS and how it works is available here:
http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
Many browsers (including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari) now have an RSS feature which allows you to
feed information directly to your browser.
RSS Readers
Many RSS readers are freely available online, including:
 Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader
 Feedlooks: http://www.feedlooks.com/
RefWorks is a citation management tool available to UBC students, faculty and staff through UBC Library. In
addition to maintaining your own database of citations, you can also use RefWorks an RSS reader, viewing
current information and importing content of interest into your database. To learn more about RefWorks for
business researchers, please contact the David Lam Library: http://www.library.ubc.ca/lam/contactus.htm
Created by Lindsay Ure
Last updated: 06/03/2016
Types of Alerts
New in the David Lam Library
New in the Lam Library is a blog maintained by the
Lam Librarians updating business researchers on
library services and new business books, DVDs and
databases.
Visit the blog and subscribe to the RSS feed:
http://blogs.ubc.ca/dlam/
Business News
The following publications have an alert feature for business news. To access the full text of an article, visit the
David Lam Library website (http://www.library.ubc.ca/lam), select Journals on the menu bar, then Print and
Electronic Journals and search by the name of the publication (e.g. Financial Times).
Business in
Vancouver
BC
Business
Economist
Financial
Times
Globe and
Mail
Vancouver
Sun
Wall Street
Journal
E-mail or RSS alerts: http://www.biv.com/
E-mail: http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bcbusinessonline
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bcbusiness
E-mail alerts: http://www.economist.com/email/
Receive podcasts or videos via RSS: http://www.economist.com/rss/
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/theeconomist
E-mail alerts (news briefings, editorial views or customize your alert to search for keywords):
http://www.ft.com/servicestools/newstracking
RSS alerts & Twitter feeds by region/topic: http://www.ft.com/servicestools/newstracking/rss
E-mail newsletter: http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/newsletter/
RSS alerts (limit to Report on Business or specific business topics):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/pages/rss/
E-mail alerts (daily business news): http://www.vancouversun.com/news/email-alerts.html
RSS alerts (business news): http://www.vancouversun.com/
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/VancouverSun/business
E-mail newsletters by topic: http://setup2.wsj.com/pznsetup/pub/email/setup.html
RSS: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/rss_news_and_feeds.html?mod=djmr_rsspodcast
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/WSJBusiness
Other business news providers that provide an alert feature:
Bloomberg News - podcasts via RSS: http://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/
CBC - alerts via e-mail, SMS, RSS, or Twitter: http://www.cbc.ca/news/news2go/
Reuters - RSS alerts of articles and videos: http://www.reuters.com/tools/rss
For other business news sources, search the website using the keyword alerts or RSS or look for the
Created by Lindsay Ure
Last updated: 06/03/2016
symbol
Government Information
The following government websites have an alert feature for new content:
BC STATS - RSS feeds: http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/rss/rss.asp
Industry Canada - RSS feeds: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/h_04939.html
Statistics Canada. The Daily - RSS alerts on new data releases: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/rsseng.htm
Journal Alerts
For many electronic journals, a table of contents alert can be set up for new journal issues. A list of major
journal publishers with alerting services is available on UBC Library's Current Awareness Tools: Journal Alerts
page: http://toby.library.ubc.ca/subjects/subjpage2.cfm?id=623
Other resources that can help you find out if alerts are available for a specific journal:
University of Nevada Reno. Electronic Journals with RSS feeds:
http://knowledgecenter.unr.edu/ejournals/alpharss.aspx
JISC (UK). ticTOCS Journal Table of Contents Service: http://www.tictocs.ac.uk/
Database Search Alerts
Many library databases include an alert feature for new content on a specific topic. To access the following
databases, visit the David Lam Library website and click on Databases A-Z: http://www.library.ubc.ca/lam
Article databases:
The UBC Library Current Awareness Tools: Database Alerts page
(http://toby.library.ubc.ca/subjects/subjpage2.cfm?id=910) includes more detailed instructions.
EBSCO databases:
Business Source Complete
EconLit
PsycINFO
Run your search and look for the Alert/Save/Share link above your
search results to set up RSS or e-mail alerts. For e-mail alerts, you
will need to set up an account with EBSCO (look for the Sign
Emerald Management Plus
To sign up for e-mail alerts, click on Register at the top of the page.
ProQuest databases:
ABI/Inform
Canadian Newsstand
CBCA Complete
ProQuest Dissertations &Theses
Run your search and look for the Set Up Alert and Create RSS Feed
links above your search results.
Web of Science
E-mail and RSS alerts. Run your search, then click on the Search
History link at the top of the page. Select your search then click on
Save History/Create Alert. You will need to sign up for an account
to set up your alert.
Created by Lindsay Ure
Last updated: 06/03/2016
Market research databases:
eMarketer
Forrester
Search by keyword, and then look for the RSS symbol above your
search results.
E-mail and RSS alerts. Run your search, then look for the Create a
Research Alert link above your search results.
Other:
Google Scholar has an e-mail alert functionality for specific searches. Look for the Create e-mail alert link
above your search results: http://scholar.google.ca
Working Paper Alerts
The following sources of working papers include an RSS alert feature:
Social Science Research Network (SSRN): - RSS feed alerts for new papers submitted by a specific author.
Look for the RSS symbol on the author page: http://www.ssrn.com/
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - RSS feeds for new working papers on set topics, including
corporate finance, industrial organization and labour studies: http://www.nber.org/rss/
Citation Alerts
Web of Science includes a citation alert feature for new content added to the database that cites a specific
article. This is helpful for discovering articles that have cited an article you have published or an article that is of
specific importance to your research.
To set up the alert, search for the article and click on the title to view the article record in the database. Look
for the Create Citation Alert button on the right. You will need to sign up for an account to set up your alert.
Other Alerts
cIRcle - an online repository for published and unpublished research and teaching materials created at UBC.
UBC researchers can submit content which will be openly available on the Internet with a permanent URL:
https://circle.ubc.ca/ RSS alerts available for specific collections within cIRcle. Navigate to a collection, then
look for the in the URL box (Firefox) or the Command Bar (Internet Explorer)
Google Alerts - set up an alert for new search results in Google, based on a specific search, e.g. on a topic,
individual or organization: http://www.google.ca/alerts
Questions?
For questions about current awareness tools or for assistance with setting up alerts, please contact the David
Lam Library: http://www.library.ubc.ca/lam/contactus.htm
For more information about current awareness tools, please see the UBC Library Current Awareness Tools guide:
http://toby.library.ubc.ca/subjects/subjpage2.cfm?id=623
Created by Lindsay Ure
Last updated: 06/03/2016