Not too remote:
Strategies for promoting chemical information services outside the library
Andrea Twiss-Brooks
University of Chicago Library
March 28, 2000
219th ACS National Meeting
San Francisco, CA
Division of Chemical Information (CINF)
What is “remote”?
“a remote use is anyone who uses library systems, services, and resources from a location outside the library proper. Some remote users may never have been in-library users, while others are crossover users who continue to come into the physical library to complete certain tasks”
Peters, Thomas A., “Remotely familiar: Using computerized monitoring to study remote use”,
Library Trends 47(1):7-20,
Summer 1998
How to promote remote use
•Make (and keep) the resources and services available
•Inform the users of the available tools
•Teach the users how to make effective use of the resources and services
Make resources and services available
•Selection, licensing or development
•Distribution and installation
•Authentication of remote users
•Maintenance and management
Make resources and services available
•Distribution and installation of client software
•Platforms (PC, Mac, Unix)
•Versions (latest only or multiple)
•Self-serve or full-serve
•FTP, web, other local server
•Instructions, hints, technical support
•Customization (embedded passwords, site preferences, network settings)
U of Chicago SciFinder distribution
•Limited to current students, faculty and staff
•Contact list for remote installations needed
•Two or more customizations to be delivered
•No campus-wide unique identification system
•No centralized ftp server facilities available
•Limited programming and technical support available
Other solutions?
•Personal visits to install the software
“At NJIT we just started a subscription to SCIFINDER SCHOLAR. I could have put the software on the network and e-mailed people instructions on how to set up SCIFINDER on their PCs. I went to about 30 people and installed the software and did a sample search for each one.” --
Bruce Slutsky
•Media (CD-ROM, diskettes)
Let the users know what’s available
•Traditional
•Print (newspapers, newsletters, flyers)
•Open house or information fair
•Door prizes
•Hands on/live links
•Food
•New
•Email
•Broadcast
•Targeted groups
•Web
•Identify resources with library (virtual hallmarking)
User education and training
•Traditional methods
•Workshops
•Location, location, location
•Library instruction
•Documentation
•Newer methods
•Distance learning
•Web based
•Videoconferencing
Examples of distance learning tools
Web guides asynchronous, static
Beilstein guides developed at University of Chicago http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/chem/ucbeil.html
Examples of distance learning tools
Web based tutorials asynchronous, interactive
University of California Santa Barbara
Web of Science Tutorial http://www.library.ucsb.edu/tutorials/wos/index.html
Overviews, screen shots and interactive question and answer sequences
Examples of distance learning tools
Web multimedia based course synchronous, interactive
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH Zürich)
TopClass system http://www.infochem.ethz.ch/topclass/help/info.html
Presentation with more information http://chemweb.vei.co.uk/library/lecture17/index.html
Examples of distance education tools
Web, video and desktop conferencing synchronous, interactive
•Rohm and Haas email: Joanne_L_Witiak@RohmHaas.Com
SciFinder training for site in Texas done from
Philadelphia
•Dow Chemical Company
•http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/?RLD=52
Individual assistance via NetMeeting software
Information Resources
Proxy server/connectivity software implementations:
•http://www.washington.edu/computing/software/uwick
•http://www.lib.washington.edu/asp/browser/proxy.asp
•http://www-neteng.uchicago.edu/Docs/web-proxy.html
Web guides/courses/tutorials:
•http://www.infochem.ethz.ch/Ausbildung
•http://chemweb.vei.co.uk/library/lecture17/index.html#e
•http://www.infochem.ethz.ch/topclass/help/info.html
•http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/chem/ucbeil.html
•http://www.library.ucsb.edu/tutorials/wos/
Distance learning:
•http://www.cei.net/~regionvi/disbib.htm
Information Resources, contd.
Desktop conferencing/videoconferencing/webconferencing:
•http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/?RLD=52
•http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/wcrelate.htm
•http://www3.ncsu.edu/dox/video/products.html
•email contact for Rohm and Haas training information is
Joanne_L_Witiak@RohmHaas.Com
Acknowledgements
Tod Olson, University of Chicago
Nancy Cundiff, Dow Chemical
Bruce Slutsky, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Joanne Witiak, Rohm and Haas
Engelbert Zass, ETH Zürich
And the many subscribers of CHMINF-L whose comments and topics
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