Evaluation of Art Alert : an in-house electronic current awareness service

Abstract

In July 1996, an electronic current awareness service (CAS), the Art.Alert bulletin, was introduced in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Library. During the trial period, the general response was encouraging. The questionnaire survey was conducted in February 1997 with two main objectives: • to assess users' satisfaction, in relation to the following criteria: subject coverage, journal coverage, relevance, presentation, frequency, method of distribution, speed of document delivery and the overall performance of the service • to assess the impact of the service on users - whether it was useful to them. The survey revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the bulletin. It showed that majority of the users were generally satisfied with the service. However, in comparative terms, more users were satisfied with the technical aspects than with the content of the bulletin. In terms of usefulness of the service, users were generally neutral about it. Nevertheless, a majority of them wished to continue to receive the bulletin.