Migration update

Review your Alert portfolios

Migration planning is on track and progressing well. It’s not too early to think about the tasks you will need to accomplish for your migration, particularly when it comes to Alerts and Saved Searches, which likely comprise a considerable portion of your Dialog use. Your Dialog Alerts and Saved Search queries will be translated and migrated to ProQuest Dialog for you. To make this conversion as efficient as possible, start preparing now by reviewing your Alerts. Updating your portfolio by making changes, deletions or additions well in advance of migration will make the migration process much easier.

Most of us work and think better when relaxed. Reviewing your Alerts now will simplify the review process following migration. Simply ensuring search commands are correct in terms of Boolean operators and that all words are spelled correctly make a big difference in the results.

Here are some other tips to get you started.

• Review current Alerts strategies to make sure search terms are retrieving the information you expect. Remember, for example, that some databases like MEDLINE^®, Embase^®, ToxFile^®, Inspec^® and more reload their thesaurus every year. Check new vocabulary to make sure your Alerts are up to date.
• If you are searching databases with a more theoretical base, such as Inspec, Ei Compendex^® or PASCAL, take advantage of the indexing, including descriptors, identifiers and codes, to pinpoint the search.
• Remove Publication Year and Publication Date in the strategy.

Review ProSheets for a list of field codes and navigators you can use to limit your search. Examples on the ProSheet illustrate the ProQuest Dialog syntax.

Watch for further communications in future issues of the Chronolog with more details on Alerts and Saved Searches.

FEBRUARY 2013

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