Alerting Services in Periodical Databases

Many UST databases include the ability to send users alerts to new content via email or RSS feeds.  This may take the form of:

• Table of Contents alerts: generated and delivered every time a new issue of an individual publication is issued
• Search alerts: saving a topical search that the database periodically re-runs and then notifies the user of new articles meeting the search criteria
• Topic alerts: automatic periodic notifications of articles on pre-selected topics
• Citation alerts: notices issued every time an article of interest is subsequently cited in the same database

These current awareness services are available at no charge, but typically require users to register for a free account with the database provider.  Each provider handles this differently: see our database-by-database list of alerting services instructions. 

Links to article content embedded in these alerts will work automatically if on-campus; they may not work off-campus depending on how the database provider has constructed them.  If you are off-campus and a link from one of your alerts fails, simply proceed to the Journals A-Z list, type in the title of the journal and search for it, then select the name of the database which sent you the alert to find the most recent issue. 

We encourage students, faculty, and staff to use these tools to keep up to date on the literature of their field. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your liaison librarian.