KEEP CURRENT WITH ...
THE CURRENT ISSUES SOURCEFILE...

by Nancy Bobrek

As part of the Pace University Library’s continuing commitment to provide timely, reliable source publications for electronic research in all disciplines, the Current Issues SourceFile was installed on the Library network last summer and is currently accessible for searching from any Pace Library public workstation.

Published by the Congressional Information Service, the Current Issues SourceFile provides full-text access to more than 3,000 recent publications which comprise the often-elusive category of "Grey Literature." These include:

• Position papers from leading advocacy groups
• New and pivotal studies from university research centers Professional and trade association publications
• Federal agency "white paper" reports
• Investigative reports from Congressional and federal agencies
• Reports and position papers from prestigious think-tanks.

For ease of access, the source material published by the more than 500 groups represented, is organized into 10 different categories, focusing on issues which dominate headlines, debates, and decisions. These categories are:

A unique component of this product is the ability for less sophisticated researchers to view an "Issues List," which assists them in isolating the key concepts and controversies which define hundreds of current issues. The Issues List allows the student to browse more than 1,000 focused questions which have been carefully drawn from source material offering opposing viewpoints. With this feature, analytical thinking skills are developed and reinforced as students learn how to explore all sides of an issue, discover who supports each position and why, identify bias, and project the impact of different options.

Alternative strategies to searching the Issues List include searching by keyword, phrase, topic, source, publication - or any combination, with the assistance of a user-friendly, Windows-based interface guide. Once pertinent source material has been identified, a variety of options exist:

Displaying an Abstract - Concise abstracts are provided

which outline the issues to be considered in the source material,

and provide a brief summary. Subject headings are included.

Retrieving a Source Profile - Each profile provides a short

description of the issuing organization, outlining its

goals and purposes and highlighting major affiliations.

Printing a Full-text Document - Full-text documents may be

displayed and read on-screen, printed, or downloaded.

The Current Issues SourceFile is an innovative and stimulating research product, which will effectively complement material from traditional newspapers and journal articles and will be easy for students to learn. Our Instructional Services Librarians have incorporated instruction on this product into those Literature and Communications classes assigned to research current issues with very successful results. The library staff will also be happy to provide instruction on this resource for classes in the Social Sciences, or other disciplines where the faculty deem the subject matter to be appropriate. We hope the Pace community will find the Current Issues SourceFile to be a valuable addition to the Library’s expanding selection of CD-ROM-based information products. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

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