New Journal Articles: Alerts and Full-text Retrieval

I've added a new journal articles feature to the sidebar of my other blog. It works like this: As I come across articles of interest, I bookmark them in Delicious and add the tag "newjournalarticles." Each time this occurs, the list of article titles in the sidebar updates accordingly. So whenever you visit the blog, be sure to check the list for any new titles of interest.

If you forget to check, you can always 1) click on the link to go to the bookmarked titles in Delicious, or 2) subscribe to the RSS feed for the listing and peruse the updates at your leisure in your own newsreader.

One thing to note is that these journal articles are not necessarily available in full-text online. To retrieve the full-text, you have several options:

- purchase the individual article
- sign up for a free online trial for the journal you are interested in (for example, Sage Journals is offering free access to all of its journals during April)
- search Worldcat.org for libraries that subscribe to a particular journal; enter your postal or zip code to determine which library is closest to you, and retrieve the text from that library
- if you are based in a developing country, you might have access to full-text journals through one of these initiatives: Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL); GDN Journal Services; HINARI Access to Research Initiative; JSTOR Developing Nations Initiative.

Finally, it's always worth searching online for keywords in the title of journal article you are seeking. Why?
- Sometimes journal publishers designate specific issues as free online samples: see, e.g., "A Heterotopian Analysis of Maritime Refugee Incidents," abstracted in IngentaConnect, but available at no cost by Wiley InterScience.
- Some articles are posted online in openly accessible journals: see, e.g., "The humanitarian consequences and actions in the Eastern Mediterranean Region over the last 60 years – a health perspective", which was indexed in PubMed.
- Some articles are available as preprints or conference papers: see, e.g, the abstract for "Resettling Refugees in Rural and Regional Australia: Learning from Recent Policy and Program Initiatives"; a report with a slightly different title but with the same authors was published earlier.

Monitoring New Additions to Library Collections

Libraries keep researchers informed of new additions to their collections either through accessions (or new acquisitions) lists or through "new titles" features in their library catalogues. This post lists several resources to help keep track of new books.

1. Accessions Lists (all the ones listed below can also be e-mailed to you upon request)

• British Library for Development Studies (BLDS) offers BLDS Updates every 2-4 weeks; see especially the one for "conflict, disasters, refugees."
• Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) Documentation Centre provides new acquisitions lists.
• Refugee Studies Centre Library compiles a quarterly list.
• UEL Refugee Council Archive puts together a bi-monthly list.
• UNHCR Library produces its Library Highlights list 3-4 times per year.

2. New Titles

ECLAS: European Commission Union Catalogue
- First, search the catalogue. With registration, users can then set up e-mail alerts for updated search results; visit the help section for more information about bibliographic alerts.

ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross Library & Research Service
- View new additions to the catalogue by clicking on the "Nouveautés" option.

Peace Palace Library
- View new titles when you select one of the many international law topics listed. Or sign up to receive e-mail alerts for a specific topic.

Tufts University Libraries
- View new acquisitions by library, broad subject, or keyword search; RSS feeds are available for all search types.

UN Geneva Library
- Select "New books and articles by subjects" to display subject options available for review; "Humanitarian Aid and Relief" is available as a category.