CINF E-NEWS
VOLUME 1 NO.2
MARCH 2000
Edited by Bruce Slutsky
I was pleased to receive positive feedback on the first edition of the CINF ENEWS. The aim of this second issue is to supplement the printed Chemical
Information Bulletin that you should have received by now. A change in
this issue is the result of a suggestion made by John Rumble. You will be
able to print the entire issue as one file. Issue number 3 that will report on
the San Francisco meeting will be published on or about May 1, 2000.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Message from the Chair
CINF Has New, Improved Web Address!
Minutes from the Fall 1999 New Orleans Meeting
Social Events at the San Francisco Meeting
Chemical Structures Association Year 2000 Award
MS and BS in Chemical Informatics Programs at Indiana University to Start Fall
2001
New Members in CINF
Publisher Announcements
ACDLABS
Molecules
Chemical Abstracts Service
ChemWeb
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sadtler Division
Chemical Information Literacy by Svetlana Korolev
Careers Column by Bruce Slutsky
Chemistry Webzines by Jenny Drey and John Buckingham
Chemistry Site Seeing with contributions by Philip Howard, Steve Rosenthal, and
Bruce Slutsky
Other Chemical Information Meetings
CINF Members in the News
Message from the Chair
Greetings! It is a great honor and pleasure to serve you as Chair of this
Division of which I have been a member for over twenty years. I am writing
this in Washington following attendance at an IUPAC Strategy Round Table
which consider the future role of IUPAC in the fields of systematic
nomenclature and potentially other structure representations. In my first
message, published in the CINF Bulletin, I reflected on the changes in
chemical information systems since the Division was first formed. It is
perhaps symptomatic of the rapidly changing times in which we are living
that other organisations such as IUPAC are also reflecting on their future
roles too.
As I stated in my first message in January, I want to make it my chief
mission in this, the first year of the new millennium, to initiate and hopefully
conclude a major review of the aims and objectives of the Division. Already
I have discovered an enormous inbuilt inertia to change resulting from the
bureaucratic procedures of ACS and its divisions and I realise that my
ambition is perhaps larger than my capacity to deliver in a brief twelve
month period as Chair. Moreover, I don't wish to imply that the Division
hasn't changed and adapted over the last twenty years - it has! However,
the changes taking place in the environment in which we work are now so
large and far-reaching that I believe we are forced to pause for reflection.
So what are the questions we should be asking ourselves? We need to
know more about who you, the members of CINF, are, what you do, and
what you expect from the Division. In the last year, we have been able to
discover, for the first time I believe, the distribution of age and length of
membership of the division. To our delight we discover that although we
have many long term members, there are many more who have joined the
Division in the last five years. However, in the recent past the members who
are active in the Division committees probably haven't reflected the views of
younger group of members too well. I am delighted that in 2000 some of the
new members of committees this year do indeed come from this group.
I invite all of you to contact me over the new few weeks to let me know your
opinions. What should we do to make the Division more relevant to the 21st
century? Is the name of the Division right?: should we change the name to
the Chemoinformatics Division? Should we consider proposing a merger
with the Division of Computers in Chemistry (COMP)? (Some of our most
successful conference programs are those in which we jointly program with
COMP.) Are we organising the right symposia an national ACS meetings?
Please let me know about your interests, concerns and views by e-mail
(bill.town@chemweb.com). I can't promise that I will answer every message
but I do promise that all your views will be considered.
This year I am facing a exceptional challenge due to the physical distance
and the number of time zones which normally separate me from many of
you (although a significant number of members are not US-based). As the
first CINF Chair not to be based in the US, I will depend even more than is
usual on the members of CINF committees. I want to publicly thank all
committee members for your hard work and apologise in advance for the
extra difficulties which will arise from my physical remoteness from many of
you. I also want to acknowledge the hard work which Grace Baysinger has
put in during her term in office and to thank her in advance for the continued
support I know she will give me this year.
2000 promises to be an exciting year for the Division. Probably by the time
you read this message, our first ACS National meeting of the year will
behind us and we will be already focussing on the Fall meeting to be held
here in Washington. I look forward to making this year a memorable one for
our Division.
Bill Town
2000 CINF Chair
Washington, 11 March 2000
CINF Has New, Improved Web Address!
Now it's easier than ever to connect to the Division of Chemical Information
website by using the new, improved URL! Just point your browser
to http://www.acs-cinf.org/ for all your CINF information needs. You'll still
find all the meeting news (including abstracts, meeting schedules and social
events listings), officer and committee directories, awards announcements
and other information you've come to expect, but now with an easy to
remember web address.
Andrea Twiss-Brooks
CINF Web Diva
Minutes from the Fall 1999 New Orleans Meeting
Anne Bolek reports that the CINF minutes from August 1999 are now on the
Web at the following URL:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cinf/exec99b.htm
Social Events at the San Francisco Meeting
Join us at the CINF Welcoming Reception
Argent Hotel, San Francisco
Sunday, March 26 at 6:30 pm
The Division of Chemical Information invites all members attending the
219th American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco to join us for
food, fun and conversation. This event is sponsored by the generous
contributions of the following sponsors:
ChemWeb.com http://chemweb.com/
ChemNavigator.com http://www.chemnavigator.com/
Questel-Orbit http://www.questel.orbit.com/
Sigma-Aldrich http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/
Please be sure to stop by some of the social events. Please check the
following link:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cinf/219nm/social_events_219.html
Please keep in mind the CINF website may be found at:
http://www.acs-cinf.org/
We thank Andrea Twiss-Brooks for maintaining this site.
CHEMICAL STRUCTURE ASSOCIATION TRUST - YEAR
2000 AWARD
The Chemical Structure Association Trust is an internationally recognized
Trust established to promote education, research or development in the
area of systems and methods for the storage, processing and retrieval of
information about chemical structures, reactions and compounds.
Applications are invited for the Year 2000 Chemical Structure Association
Trust Award. The Trust is offering an Award of up to two thousand pounds
sterling for the best applicant seeking funds for education or research in
chemical information.
Anyone working in the field of chemical information research can apply and
application can be made for funds to attend a relevant conference, for travel
(e.g. to collaborate with another research group) or for hardware or
software to assist with the research project. The award is unlikely to be
given exclusively for hardware and software. The application should include:
1. A statement of academic qualifications
2. Details of relevant work and a statement of research recently
completed by the applicant
3. The purpose for which the award is required. The clarity and
relevance of this statement will be crucial in the evaluation of the
applicants
4. Letters from two academic references to support the application.
Award winners are expected to write a short report, within one year of
receiving the money, giving details of how the money was spent.
The Trust has previously supported the continuation of research studies in
biomedical interactions including molecular recognition processes and drug
design; a novel combination of reaction indexing and synthesis planning;
clustering of chemical structures for property prediction; and investigation of
reaction mechanisms. The work of younger scientists in developing
countries has also been made possible in conjunction with some of the
awards.
Recent award winners, and their areas of research, are as follows:
Marina Molchanova, Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Moscow (use graph
theoretical and combinatorial algorithms in structure generation)
Weifan Zheng, University of North Carolina (QSAR and combinatorial chemistry)
Aniko Simon, University of Leeds (chemical literature data extraction)
Eugene Babaev, Moscow State University (computer-assisted synthesis)
Gareth Jones, University of Sheffield (for presentation of paper on genetic
algorithms at an ACS National Meeting)
Vladimir Kvasnicka, Slovak Technical University (neural networks for prediction of
physiochemical properties)
Rainer Herges, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg (reaction databases and
quantum chemistry)
Applications must be submitted by 30 April 2000, preferably by e-mail, to
the Chairman of the Awards sub-committee, Professor Michael Lynch, at:
Michael F LynchM.Lynch@sheffield.ac.uk
Any postal applications should be sent to:
Dr Clive Weeks
Secretary of the Chemical Structure Association Trust
39 Rounton Road
Church Crookham
Fleet, Hants GU13 0JH
UK
The Award will be presented at the International Chemical Information
Meeting in Annecy in October.
MS and BS in Chemical Informatics Programs at
Indiana University to Start Fall 2001
Three new graduate courses in chemical informatics were recently
approved by the Indiana University Department of Chemistry Curriculum
Committee. The courses cover subjects that are usually not taught in depth
in the existing chemical literature courses. While offered in the Department
of Chemistry, the courses will be part of the curriculum for a Master of
Science in Chemical Informatics in the School of Informatics, a degree that
is being developed jointly with the Indiana University campus at
Indianapolis (IUPUI). In addition, a bachelor of science degree in
informatics with a concentration in chemical informatics will include two new
one-hour courses.
George W.A. (Bill) Milne, editor of the Journal of Chemical Information and
Computer Sciences, has been appointed adjunct professor of chemistry at
IU for the period 2000-2001, and John Barnard already holds an adjunct
professorship in the Department of Computer Science at Indiana University.
The combination of these outstanding adjunct faculty and IUB/IUPUI faculty
such as Donald Boyd and Kenneth Lipkowitz (editors of Reviews in
Computational Chemistry), Joseph Gajewski (of PCModel fame) and
bioinformatician Don Gilbert insures the success of the program. Further
information on the new School of Informatics at Indiana University can be
found at: http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/
The graduate courses are:
C571 Chemical Information Technology (3 credits)
Chemical structure and data representation and search systems; Chemical
information and database systems: laboratory information management
systems, spectral and crystallographic databases, chemical reaction
databases, patent information management systems, commercial chemical
information databases, electronic chemical publishing systems;
Bioinformatics.
C572 Applied Chemical Informatics Techniques and Methods (3
credits)
Computational Chemistry: property prediction, prediction of speed of
reactions and synthetic sequences, structure-property and structure-activity
methods, graph theory and molecular graphs, artificial intelligence and
neural network applications; Molecular modeling: classical mechanics
forcefield, minimization algorithms, dynamics/simulated annealing,
application of constraints; Computer-aided synthesis and design: ligand
design, quantitative structure activity relationships, docking; Combinatorial
libraries and molecular diversity.
C578 Seminar in Chemical Informatics (1-3 credits)
Topics vary yearly and include: Spectral and crystallographic databases,
chemometrics, chemical publishing and display of chemical electronic
information, chemical bibliometrics, and patent searching, among others.
It is expected that the new graduate and undergraduate courses will be
offered in the 2001/2002 academic year.
Gary D. Wiggins
Head, Chemistry Library
800 E. Kirkwood Avenue
Chemistry Bldg C003
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405-7102
Bus: (812) 855-9452
Bus Fax: (812) 855-6611
E-mail: wiggins@indiana.edu
New Members in CINF
The following are new members of CINF
for 2000:
Member:
Alfian Noor
Jalan Pelitaraya VI, KP Perma, A-1
Xinghong Sun
900 W. Franklin Street, #334
Ujung Pandang 90222, Indonesia
Bus. Phone: 62 411 585991
nuklir@indosat.net.id
ACS Membership #: 2252945
Richmond, VA 23220
chexxxz@atlas.vcu.edu
ACS Membership #: 2210080
Affiliate:
Barbara Cohrssen Powell
Cohrssen Environmental, Inc.
PMB203
3450 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
Bus. Phone: 415-775-1105
ceindhyg@mcn.org
Miss Jane Quinn
ChemWeb, Inc.
Middlesex House, 34-42
Cleveland
St. London WIPGLB
Bus. Phone: 44 171 4994748
jabe.quinn@chemweb.com
Diane Wian
Questel-Orbit
8000 Westpark Drive
McLean, VA 22102
Bus. Phone: 703-556-7444
dwian@questel.orbit.com
Michael Wilkes
428 Kentucky Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
703-556-7440
mwilkes@questel.orbit.com
Student Affiliate:
Mr. David G. Naugler
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
8888 University Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
Bus. Phone: 415-291-5657
mailto:dnaugler@sfu.edu
Publisher Announcements
ACDLABS
Tony Williams announces:
For those of you interested in ACD software, the developers of the FREE
ACD/Chemsketch package there will be an ACD Workshop at the ACS
Conference at the Spring ACS meeting in San Francisco. For conference
details visit the conference web page at:
http://www.acdlabs.com/download/publ/um_acs_l.pdf
Tony also reports:
We just celebrated 40,000 downloads and are averaging 130 copies every
day
See : http://www.acdlabs.com/news.html
Also, Reactive Reports may be worth a look-see
http://www.acdlabs.com/webzine/ as it's getting critical acclaim
Also, for people interested in the IUPAC rules online:
http://www.acdlabs.com/iupac/nomenclature
MOLECULES
MOLECULES-the first fully online experimental chemistry journal. Call for a
free subscription.
All libraries are invited to enter into free online subscription to MOLECULES
(ISSN 1420-3049, volume 5, 2000) at
the http://www.mdpi.org/molecules/ website. It maintains a rigorous peerreview system. Please obtain your free and unique userID and password
from mol_request@mdpi.org (put "free subscription" as the subject title and
your name and address in the text of your e-mail).
Because it is a free online journal, papers published in MOLECULES
receive very high publicity. So far we have many subscriptions from
individual chemists. We would like to ask all the chemistry libraries to obtain
a free userID and Password to have free access to MOLECULES online
edition.
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin
Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
Managing Editor of of MOLECULES
Saengergasse 25, CH-4054 Basel, Switzerland
Tel. +41 79 322 3379, Fax +41 61 302 8918
E-mail: lin@mdpi.org
http://www.mdpi.org/lin/
Chemical Abstracts Service
CAplus with Machine Translated Patent Abstracts
To make patent information available as quickly as possible, CAS is making
machine-translated abstracts available in CAplus for Japanese patents
issued as of January 14, 2000 and for German patents as of February 3,
2000. The machine-translated abstracts are easily identifiable - each is
preceded by [Machine Translation] or [MT].
These abstracts are reviewed by CAS document analysts if and when the
document is selected for abstracting and indexing. The [MT] or [Machine
Translation] tag is removed after the review.
CAS E-Seminars Now on the Web
Quick and friendly instruction in the use of CAS databases and services is
now easier than ever at your desktop.
CAS has introduced a new series of instructional videos on the Web called
e-Seminars. Most of these movies will take less than 2 minutes to view and
will discuss CAS database content and coverage in key areas of technology,
plus techniques for retrieving this information. The first e-Seminar in the
series, Catalysts, is now available at
http://www.cas.org/training/eseminars/index.html
You'll need the Acrobat 4 and QuickTime 4 plug-ins, which are readily
available on the Web.
CAS NOW THE "WORLD'S FASTEST" RESOURCE FOR FULLYINDEXED CHEMICAL PATENTS
Patent records available in under 30 days.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 7, 2000 - The only major chemistry-related
resource offering both literature and patent records, Chemical Abstracts
Service (CAS), begins the year 2000 as the world's fastest resource for
"uncovering the chemistry" in patents. Fully-indexed patent records for key
patent offices are now appearing in the CAplus database within 30 days
from issue date.
"CAS uses the latest technology to acquire, process and deliver patent
information as quickly as possible to research scientists," said Dr. Matthew
J. Toussant, CAS Director of Editorial Operations. "We now are providing in
days--or hours--the kind of information that takes months to appear in other
patent databases." In research activities such as drug discovery, where
even a day can make a crucial competitive difference, CAS' latest advances
in patent processing and timeliness have great significance for scientific
enterprises worldwide.
According to Toussant, precise searching of chemical information requires
the kind of thorough indexing that CAS provides. "We have seen a
proliferation of patent resources on the Web that offer quick-and-easy text
searching," Toussant explained. "But CAS analysts are scientists who
understand the significance of chemical information in patents and can
identify new substances and chemical ideas. This information is drawn from
the complete patent document--both the claims and examples--and we
make it searchable by Markush (generic) structures as well as specifically
identified structures and concepts."
In addition to making fully-indexed patent records available within 30 days,
CAS adds preliminary records to the CaPlus database within two days of
the patents' issuance by the United States, Japanese, European, German
and World (WIPO) patent offices.
To further enhance the electronic research environment, CAS has enriched
its database records with hypertext links that take researchers directly from
CAS services, such as SciFinder, SciFinder Scholar and STN, to full-text
patent documents in the United States, German, European and WIPO
patent offices. Service users can link to full-text patent documents almost
as fast as they can identify them in the CAS databases, allowing them to
complete the research cycle online in the same session. These patent
documents are available immediately at no charge.
For more information about CAS services, call 1-800-753-4227 or 1-614447-3700. Visit the CAS Web site at http://www.cas.org/.
Eric Shively
CAS
eshively@cas.org
614-447-3847
CHEMWEB.COM
Contact:
Jenny Drey
Caroline Harrison
Press Officer
Enhance Marketing
ChemWeb.com
E-mail: carolineh@enhance-marketing.co.uk
E-mail: jenny.drey@chemweb.com Tel: 0118 933 1331
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)171 622 9301
Fax: 0118 933 1414
Bretherick's Reactive Chemical Hazards Database
web version now live on ChemWeb.com
London, February 2nd, 2000. ChemWeb, Inc. and Butterworth-Heinemann
announce the launch of the newly updated 6th edition of Bretherick's
Reactive Chemical Hazards Database on the web at ChemWeb.com. This
new online version of the Database will allow searches on text and
structures throughout this authoritative chemical reference.
ChemWeb.com is offering its members the opportunity to trial this extremely
comprehensive database free of charge throughout February 2000. This
offer will be repeated later (see below).
Bretherick's is widely accepted as the reference work on reactive chemical
hazards and is essential for all those working with chemicals or responsible
for others who work with chemicals. The content covers over 5000
elements or compounds and as many again of secondary entries involving
two or more compounds. One of its most valuable features is the extensive
cross-referencing of data, which links similar compounds or incidents which
are not obviously related. The Database contains all the information found
in Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards. It is equipped with
full structure searching capabilities, and is extremely accessible and user
friendly.
Bill Town, ChemWeb.com's Director of Operations said, "As a bench
chemist, I always had a high regard for Bretherick's compilation of
hazardous reaction information, especially as I once had the pleasure of
meeting Dr Bretherick early in my career. The lives of ChemWeb.com
members will now be safer as a consequence of this launch on
ChemWeb.com."
Duncan Enright of Butterworth-Heinemann said, "Over the
years, Bretherick's has become the most authoritative source of reference
for hazard prevention for chemists and safety officers. With
ChemWeb.com's help we can now bring this newly updated 6th edition to
the increasing numbers of people who require this information online."
It is accessed at http://chemweb.com/databases/brethericks. Anyone who
misses the opportunity of a free trial of the Database in February should call
Butterworth-Heinemann on 01865 314563 for details of when the offer will
be repeated.
About Butterworth-Heinemann
Butterworth-Heinemann is one of the world's leading publishers of
information for professionals and specialists.
About ChemWeb.com
ChemWeb, Inc. produces ChemWeb.com, the world's biggest online
community of chemistry researchers. Details of other ChemWeb.com news
can be found athttp://www.chemweb.com/home/prpage.html.
BIO-RAD LABORATORIES, SADTLER DIVISION
To Contact the Author:
Deborah Kernan
Bio-Rad laboratories, Sadtler Division
3316 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-349-7366
Fax: 215-662-0585
Email: deborah_kernan@bio-rad.com
Web: http://www.sadtler.com/
A Revolution in IR Spectral Searching
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sadtler Division's new HaveItAll( IR revolutionizes
access to the world's-largest infrared spectral collection of over 175,000
spectra. With Sadtler's new affordable, subscription-based pricing.
HaveItAll( IR provides more than 90,000 spectra of pure compounds and
over 80,000 commercial spectra on one CD. This not only is a pricing
breakthrough, but transforms the way chemists use spectral databases in
their research. "HaveItAll IR is an analytical informatics product that will
forever change the way in which IR databases are searched," said Gregory
M. Banik, Ph.D., General Manager, Sadtler. "It provides affordable access
to the largest collection of IR data on the planet, truly giving all our
customers the ability to have it all."
With HaveItAll IR, chemists can quickly look up any record by name or
structure for use as a comprehensive reference source. Alternatively, they
can search the entire database by spectrum to more accurately identify or
classify unknown spectra. With a paid subscription, customers can look up
information or search as often as they want.
HaveItAll IR targets chemists and spectroscopists who have wanted access
to all of Sadtler's IR databases but could not afford it and is ideal for those
who already have data and want to supplement their existing databases.
Michael Boruta, Senior Staff Scientist, comments, "We all know the more
data we have, the better our chances of getting good results. HaveItAll IR
now gives everyone an affordable way to have all of our data."
When the customer performs a lookup, the complete record is always
shown. When a customer performs a search, results include the best 50
search results. Customers then determine whether or not these spectra
offer a close enough match to their unknown spectrum. At this point, prepaid electronic "Hit List Keys" can be used to unlock the entire hit list and
view all the available information for all spectra in that results list, such as
names, properties and structures. The HaveItAll IR package includes 10 Hit
List Keys. Deborah Kernan, from Sadtler's Marketing Team, comments,
HaveItAll IR offers the same high-quality data that has made Sadtler the
leading supplier of IR data for over 40 years. HaveItAll IR's spectral
collection offers a wide range of compounds, such as Polymers, Pure
Organics, Inorganics, and Organometallics and serves multiple markets,
including Pharmaceuticals, Forensics, Materials Science, and Academia.
Celebrating over 125 years, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sadtler Division is the
world leader in analytical informatics, specializing in the design and
manufacture of complete software and database solutions that combine the
means necessary to access and build analytical databases with the ability
to manage, analyze, and communicate knowledge from these databases.
For over forty years, Sadtler has remained the leading producer and
publisher of fully verified spectral databases, with a collection that contains
over 300,000 IR, NMR, UV, and Raman spectra. Sadtler distributes its
products worldwide through hundreds of direct and OEM sales
representatives.
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (http://www.bio-rad.com/) is a multinational
manufacturer and distributor of life science research products, clinical
diagnostics and analytical instrumentation, based in Hercules, California.
The company serves more than 70,000 research and industry customers
worldwide through a network of 25 wholly-owned subsidiary offices.
For additional information on Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sadtler Division, visit
their Web site at http://www.sadtler.com/ or call 1-888-5-BIORAD in the US
or in Europe, call +44 (0) 20 8328 2555 or free phone 00800-78945000 (UK,
France & Germany).
HaveItAll IR System Requirements
Windows 95, 98, or NT, 486/66 CPU or faster (Pentium preferred), For
Windows 95/98 - 16 MB RAM (24 MB recommended), For Windows NT 24 MB RAM (32 MB recommended), CD-ROM Drive, 12 MB free hard disk
space.
Package includes: unlimited search capability, annual look-up license, and
10 electronic hit list keys. Additional hit list keys may be purchased
separately. HaveItAll IR reads all the current IR instrument data file formats,
including the universal IR file format JCAMP.
HaveItAll is a trademark of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sadtler Division.
Chemical Information Literacy:
Integration of international graduate students in the
research environment.
Svetlana Korolev Science Librarian Wayne State University
(Editors Note - Svetlana is a new science librarian. I certainly am impressed
by this timely publication. Many academic librarians such as myself have to
work with international students. I have to remember to avoid using
"Americanisms")
"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion."
Democritus of Abdera
"Chance favors the prepared mind."
George Dubpernel
The status of the U.S. higher education
The first graduate program in the USA was established at Johns Hopkins
University in 1876. It gained outstanding reputation in the world. The U.S
graduate program is more diverse in comparison with ones in some other
countries. (Adams & Mathieu, 1999) The reputation of a graduate school is
based on the faculty research and the graduate students are essential as
research assistants on projects. It is widely recognized that association and
accommodation of diverse population of students is a desirable goal of
many institutions. By having the diverse representation the process of
discovery, which is based on multiple modes of approaches and the ways
of thinking about solving problems is enriched.
While academic graduate programs in "hard" sciences in many countries
survive crises, the American universities attract many international students
at the graduate level from all around the world. According to National
Science Foundation data 18% of all science and engineering graduate
students in the U.S. came from foreign countries in 1993 [3]. Since 1992 the
international students make an approximately 30% of the population of
chemistry graduate students [4]. In contrast with overall graduate school
enrollment drop, the number of foreign students rose 3% in 1998 [5].
Extremely large number of foreign students are at the Chemistry
Departments of Wayne State University - 72%, University of Chicago -54%,
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University - 37%.
In this article as a new science librarian I would like to stimulate the
discussion from the perspective of an international student regarding the
needs and possible approaches to implement chemical information literacy
sessions at the graduate level.
It is unstated assumption that the skills such as written and oral
communication, information and computer literacy were taught, presumably,
by the general education that preceded graduate training. It is also
presumed that these skills could be learnt informally along the education
process without organized efforts. But for many international students that
assumption is unwarranted. The young researchers should pursue scientific
achievements solely. Albert Einstein stated that scholars are being left in
their own work: "The history of scientific and technical discovery teaches us
the human race is poor in independent thinking and creative imagination.
Even when the external and scientific requirements for the birth of an idea
have long been there, it generally needs an external stimulus to make it
actually happen; man has, so to speak, to stumble right up against the thing
before the right idea comes."
The data of two surveys
First, because chemical information is complex it is important to introduce
the students to this subject literature during their undergraduate program.
The ACS survey of a number of integrated instructions for both
undergraduate and graduate students is summarized in the table, which is
posted at the Stanford University's web site [11].
Field of Chemistry Undergraduate Graduate
Organic
95
18
Analytical
38
11
Inorganic
53
16
Physical
57
12
Biochemistry
36
6
Polymer
9
4
Seminars
60
20
Second, for graduate students in sciences, who are information literate, as
it was noted by Brown (1999), the Internet is not considered as the "key to
the world of information." The data from this survey shows in sciences
graduate students experience minimal library anxiety but among the
participants the international students were absent. "Special attention must
be paid to this unique group of students to ensure that they are able to
locate, evaluate and use the library resources available."
The need for instructions
Given the fact of U.S. technological advances and Information Age
explosion the international students might experience "information chaos"
their minds. They come to graduate schools with different backgrounds.
Their native research libraries might not have information resources as the
American ones do. There are many libraries abroad that have closed stacks
without browsing privileges for their patrons. As students find a title from a
catalog (card, not online in some instances), they fill out a form and a
librarian delivers books or journals to a desk. Some libraries don't have
Reference Departments. A variety of services are not available. The World
Wide Web might not be considered as an information tool. Given the fact
that chemistry knowledge is a fast growing area in magnitude and
complexity there is a need for instructions to be implemented for
international students at the graduate level. Organized sessions will help
students to understand the organization of sophisticated chemical
information and the tools to retrieve it. A coherent picture in students' mind
how information aspects relate to each other with a range of searching skills
will enable researchers to see "chemical information bonds" in harmony.
"Wisdom is about living harmoniously in the universe which is itself a place
of order and justice that triumph over chaos." Matthew Fox.
Chemical information literacy implementation issues
To implement the instructions the certain criteria should be met (Somerville
1985, 1989):
1. Core chemistry resources should be available.
2. Faculty support is essential.
3. Professionally - trained instructors. I would like to stress this issue,
because specialization in chemical information science is rare.
Indiana University is a one place which has the chemical informatics
graduate school (Wiggins, 1998). Library and Information Science
Schools teach the foundations of literature organization with a few
courses devoted to science and technology resources. The majority
of students at the Library and Information Science Programs (LISP)
came with background in Arts. LISP, Wayne State University offers
"Science and Technology Information Sources" as an elective not as
a core course (as it was before the fall of 1999). According to the data
reported by Hooper-Lane (1999), only forty -three percent of
respondent librarians had background in chemistry and less than half
of these were at the graduate level (twenty three percent had BS,
eleven percent -MS and nine percent- Ph.D). There are almost no
papers published regarding academic chemistry librarians, who
engage in bibliographic instructions in the countries abroad.
4. Instructional materials and guides how to implement chemistry
information literacy to address the international graduate deficits.
Chemical Information and Education Divisions of American Chemical
Society and Chemistry Division of Special Library Association may
provide materials, strategies and trained staff. These seminar
sessions could be held at national or local meetings. "Chemical
information literacy bounds" for developing such a program may be
broken by the Internet, the place without geographical boundaries.
Possible solutions
To be effective the graduate programs need to integrate their students, who
came with different backgrounds. The international graduate students
started as teaching assistants. Then they involve in intensive work in
narrowly defined research topics. For international students on a Ph.D.
program the Humboldian's concept "learning-by-doing" under the authority
of a faculty could be stretched to the context of libraries and professional
societies, which could provide effective programs to help international
students. These directions will help students to adapt pressures of
academic environment, to become more versatile researchers and
accommodate to the future market trends. The information literacy should
meet the international graduate students' specific needs. As one of the
basic components of graduate education bibliographic instructions will give
the opportunities to become competent in using chemistry resources and to
be become experts in information-gathering skills. Separate programs may
be planned:
1. Summer programs before admission need to prepare students. It is
necessary to diminish information gaps not only sessions with the
emphasis on the development of language and communicative skills
(written and oral), but with intensive library orientation sessions for
international students to fill out students' information deficits before
entering the general curriculum.
2. The special seminars during their education process must give
students the opportunities to learn the scientific information
organization, resources and techniques to retrieve information. By
knowing their library resources and services available the
international students will be integrated into research atmosphere
better. Possibilities in collaboration with librarians are important to
stress for students, because libraries abroad may have neither
Reference Departments nor a variety of services, which are available
at the American Universities.
3. Long-term mentoring programs should begin as early as possible and
be maintained throughout student academic career. It is would be
helpful for international students to feel that some faculty member or
a librarian understands and ready to advise in the particular situation.
The standards might be set to help a student. The mentoring
programs could be emulated throughout universities and professional
societies.
4. Systematic instructions mean a continuous program designed to
approach international students several times. Particular information
needs are considered at a different and at increasingly sophisticated
levels during the graduate education. The implementation of hand-on
sessions and use of online searching in a creative way are important.
(Drum & et, 1993)
In general, with the regard that the chemistry discipline is constantly
growing and new materials are being introduced, ongoing library awareness
instructions about recent acquisitions are important for all students and
faculty. Unfortunately, in many cases not only international students, but
faculty shows lack of knowledge about library's holding. This type of
program is beneficial for libraries as a marketing tool too. It adds value,
promotes the availability of chemistry resources, which are extremely
expensive and increases the collection usage.
Conclusion
A graduate degree is a professional degree, intended both to furnish
credentials and to prepare students for their life's work. The mission of a
university is to make both native and international students participate as
discoverers and as learners. It is function of the university to provide the
context in which ideas can be most productively developed. Research
should remain the major focus but the education should become more
versatile and balanced through the long-term process. Students need to
realize that as scientists their search for information is a life-long endeavor
(Adams & Mathieu, 1999). Education is a continuous journey, not the finish
destination. It might be appropriate to consider some programs in order to
address the chemical information literacy needs. The creation of these
programs will help international student with the university, postgraduate
programs or corporate professional experience. It is a goal to produce a
researcher, who possesses the skills in language, communication,
information - gathering, problem- solving and knowledge organization.
(Brown, 1999). Graduates will be prepared for life in an information based
society, better adopted for job opportunities in a wide range of professions
and to make effective life-long use of information resources and systems for
whatever may lie beyond graduation with Ph.D. in the U.S.A.
References:
1. Adams F. & Mathieu E. 1999. Towards a closer integration of Ph.D.
training to industrial and societal needs. Analytica Chimica Acta,
393:147-155.
2. Brown C. M. 1999. Information literacy of physical science graduate
students in the information age. College and Research Library News,
60(5):426-438.
3. Chemical & Engineering News. 1999. January 17:12.
4. Chemical & Engineering News. 1999. October 25:72.
5. Chemical & Engineering News. 2000, January 3:21.
6. Davis C.H. 1985. Teaching of chemical information science to
graduates. Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Science,
25:323-326.
7. Drum C.A., Primack A.L., Battiste A., & Barratt E. 1993. Library
instruction for chemistry students: a course-integrated
approach. Science and Technology Libraries, 14(2): 79-88.
8. Hooper-Lane C. 1999. Spotlight on the Subject knowledge of
Chemistry Librarians: Results of a Survey. [Online].
Available: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/99-summer/article1.html
9. Somerville A.N. 1989. Perspectives and criteria for chemical
information instruction. Journal of Chemical Information and
Computer Sciences, 30: 177-181.
10.
Somerville A.N. 1985. Chemical Information Instruction of the
Undergraduate: a review and analysis. Journal of Chemical
Information and Computer Sciences, 25:314-323.
11.
Survey. [Online]
Available at: http://wwwsul.stanford.edu/depts/swain/workshop/ways/integrat.html
12.
Wiggins G. 1998. New directions in the education of chemistry
librarians and Information specialists. Science and Technology
Libraries, 17(2):45-57.
Submitted by:
Svetlana Korolev
Librarian
Science & Engineering Library
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48201
E-mail: ac7109@wayne.edu
phone (313) 577-6309
fax (313) 577-3613
CAREERS COLUMN - Bruce Slutsky
CINF members bring diverse backgrounds and experiences to their
respective positions. Very few of us started our careers in chemical
information. We developed an interest in this field at different points of our
professional lives. Gary Wiggins and Charles Davis surveyed CHMINF-L
subscribers in March 1999 to find out why they entered the field. Here are
the results, but this article uses an anecdotal approach to this question.
Reasons for Entering Chemical Information Field
Genuine Enjoyment and Interest in the Field per se 20
Wanted to Use Chemistry/Science Background
19
Alternative to Laboratory Work
18
Library Work Appealing/Interesting
14
Influenced by Employer
8
Application of Computer Aptitude/Skills
4
More Career Opportunities
4
Experience in Publishing/Database Work
4
Literature Searching in School
2
Poor Job Market for Bench/Research Chemists
2
Research in Chemical Information
2
Alternative to Research
1
Consulting/Entrepreneurial Opportunity
1
Interaction With Other People
1
Realized Impact of CIS on Research
1
Remuneration
1
Suited Temperment Better
1
Let me give my story first. Three years after completing my Masters degree
in organic chemistry, I was working as a medicinal chemist for Pfizer in
Groton, CT. I regularly searched the printed Chemical Abstracts to
determine if a target molecule was reported in the literature. Back in those
days (1977) online searching was not yet available. My interest in literature
searching motivated me to pursue a career in chemical information. I later
pursued a Masters degree in library and information science and eventually
became an academic chemistry librarian.
Bob Buntrock was interested in chemical information as long as he was
interested in chemistry. He did much information searching as an
undergraduate and later as a graduate student. Bob credits his research
mentors and supervisors who stressed the value of information research.
He searched the literature at a summer job at the Veterans Administration
Laboratory and at his first two professional positions. Bob observed the way
information professionals worked, and decided that this was the right career
path for him. The Director of Technical Information at Amoco extended the
offer if his third and last job as Technical Information Specialist.
In the early 1980s more laboratory scientists received training in searching
online bibliographic databases. Thus, they could search without an
intermediary. Tom Wolff first became interested in chemical information by
taking Bob Buntrock's end user course at Amoco in the mid 1980s. He did
very little searching while at the bench, but later made the career change.
He is now Senior Research Scientist/Information Specialist at Amoco.
Lisa Jackson is now a self-taught chemical information specialist. She
unfortunately became disabled after completing a degree in chemistry. She
was homebound and forbidden to work around chemicals. She thought
about working as an information broker as an alternative career. One
course in searching CA and STN files was a start, but not enough training
to qualify her for a professional position. Since she was unable to attend
classes in person, she obtained the syllabuses, found a mentor, and trained
herself.
Charles Citroen is unique since he became interested in chemical
information at the start of his career. As a chemistry student he was
impressed by his college's collection of chemistry books and periodicals. At
age 28 he became acting head of a pharmaceutical company library after
his boss tragically died in a car accident. He spent a year with Chemical
Abstracts in an internship program before moving to the Netherlands Royal
Chemical Society. He was one of the founders of the Computers in
Chemistry Division who helped develop the first European access to the
electronic CA. He is now Senior Consultant to the library of Delft University
of Technology.
Kierstin Child also became interested in chemical information early in her
career. As an undergraduate majoring in biochemistry, she worked at the
reference desk in the science library. This experience inspired her to pursue
a career in the library rather than in the laboratory. She is now Chemical
Sciences Librarian at Brigham Young University.
Peter Willett, Herman Skolnik award winner in 1993, worked as an
assistant in a local public library before enrolling as a chemistry student at
Oxford University. While doing undergraduate research, Peter realized that
the practicalities of chemical research were not for him. At Sheffield he
developed an interest in computer programming. Mike Lynch, one of the
original designers of the CAS Registry System, influenced Peter's decision
to study chemical computing. Peter's Ph D under Mike Lynch involved the
indexing of chemical reactions. Peter Willett is still at Sheffield where he
heads one of the largest academic chemical information groups.
An article in the Chemical and Engineering news about special libraries
inspired Pat Dedert. At that point in time she was in the fourth year of a
chemistry graduate program. She was not happy working in the laboratory
and was not sure of what alternative career path to take which would utilize
her chemical training. She completed her doctoral degree the next year and
landed a chemical information position with Exxon where she is still
employed.
Phil Barnett enjoyed working as a postdoctoral biochemist, but felt
insecure having to depend on a constant stream of successful grants. A
coworker in his lab was in a similar predicament. She was completing her
MLS while planning to become an academic science librarian. This woman
gave Phil the idea of pursuing a career in chemical information. Phil
believes that if he had the opportunity to take a course in chemical
information as a student, he would have made the career change earlier.
This motivated him to teach chemical information courses at the City
College of New York.
Ken Randles became interested in science librarianship after working as a
computational chemist. He seemed ambivalent toward laboratory work and
concluded that he should pursue another career. Ken's research professor
suggested a career in library science. The chemistry librarian at the
University of Kentucky mentored him. Upon graduation he pursued a career
in library science and is now Science Librarian at the University of Kentucky.
John* (name changed on request) was in a chemistry doctoral program
when he realized his laboratory skills were not up to par. He first went into
computational chemistry, but soon found out there was very little demand
for the type of modeling he did. John took advice from various letters to the
Chemical and Engineering News and started looking at alternative careers.
(At least two people were influenced by this magazine) His decision to
pursue chemistry librarianship came gradually. Chemistry librarians during
graduate school and postdoctoral work influenced him.
Not all chemistry librarians were educated as chemists. A professor at
Simmons College who taught a course in the literature of the sciences
inspired Arlieda Ries. She became head of the Chemistry Library at
Boston University and is now Physical Sciences Librarian at Miami (Ohio)
University.
Steve Stich worked for Richard Sweeney at Brooklyn Polytech where he
was assigned chemistry as one of his departments. What a small world!
Richard Sweeney is now my boss at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
I was chemistry librarian before he came. Steve is now Science and
Engineering Librarian at Johns Hopkins University.
CHEMISTRY WEBZINES - by Jenny Drey and John
Buckingham
Chemistry Webzines - How to find the right news for you
The problem facing all of us these days is how to locate that small
percentage of valuable and interesting material on the Web. Chemists, like
everyone else, need to be kept up-to-date with the latest in their field. Most
of us know which print publications fit the bill. However, there are a growing
number of publications now on the Web, which (claim to) serve the same
purpose as the longer-established print media. But exactly what is there on
offer, and how do you locate it? And what advantages, if any, do the online
media hold over the print media?
Several of the sites covered here, including some of the more successful
ones, are electronic equivalents of print products. One legitimate function of
such sites is to raise awareness of the print version and to generate more
print subscriptions. To do this, the main requirements are that the website
should be at least as well designed as the print equivalent, and to generate
interest in the news stories and other content. Some sites are overproprietorial, restricting access to their data. It is difficult to see the
justification for this restrictive attitude, which seems to spring from an
overvaluation by the site owners of the information the site contains, and of
the level of interest the average browser might have.
New Scientist
This website has clearly been designed to mimic as far as possible the
printed version and to attract further readers, which it does admirably.
Colour headlines attract the browser, and crosslinks are provided to related
stories. The selection of articles and their content are well chosen so as to
generate a high degree of interest whilst not giving away everything that is
in the print version.
There are also valuable web-only features, including a job vacancy register
and fully-searchable archive of hundreds of questions and answers on
general science. You can search the associated Planet Science site, which
is an archive of about 1/3rd of the material that appears in the printed
version. A good compromise between holding users' interest and giving
away everything for free on the Web.
The sole, and major, disadvantage for chemist users of this site is the low
level of the chemical information presented. Most of the best stories do not
concern chemistry at all.
Design A;. Functionality B;. Topicality A; Quality of Information C; Relevance to
chemists D.
Today's Chemist At Work (ACS)
The 'About the Magazine' link stated this is 'The industrial chemist's
personal handbook for on-the-job success'.
The content was variable. An article by Steve Heller had useful working
hotlinks. However, other articles were much less impressive, with a lot of
scope for such links, which had not been installed.
You can also search all ACS journals from this site, but downloading them
requires credit card payment or subscription to the Web edition. A sample
search on Stereochemistry in title retrieved 162 documents; although the
search bar says 'all years', in fact titles were only retrieved back to 1996.
A fairly useful site, but sweeping claims are made which are not matched by
reality.
Design B; Functionality B; Topicality B; Quality of information B; Relevance to
chemists B.
Chemical and Engineering News (ACS)
Access to the current issue is restricted to subscribers of the print edition,
and you have to enter your ACS membership number. My number did not
work - it is necessary to register your interest to receive access to the
electronic version, although this is nowhere stated on the home page.
Access to certain features containing pdf files required acroread.exe, and
no facility was provided to download this from the site, as is usually the
case.
Having said this, once you gain access to the site the editorial content is
good (more interesting than the printed magazine, and up-to-date).
There is a bias in content towards corporate news stories and ACS
corporate matter, such as conference calendars and abstracts, although it
is not possible even to read the full content of a conference abstract without
a subscription. The written articles had good graphics and useful hotlinks,
for example from an article on TRI emissions there was a link to the
Chemical Manufacturers' Association homepage. However, in this respect a
learned society such as the ACS can be criticized for being too much in the
pocket of industry - where are the hotlinks to environmental groups'
homepages?
Design B; Functionality B; Topicality A ; Quality of information C; Relevance to
chemists A.
BioPharm Magazine Online
This site has a good feel, but falls down on topicality. The areas of
information covered are more at the biochemical/life sciences end of
chemistry.
There were a few innovative and user-friendly features, and an
extensive calendar of events, and pharmaceutical industry stock quotes.
Two features that I looked at emphasised the lack of topicality. Past
Features and Book Reviews were last updated a year ago. There is no
online ordering facility (such as Amazon) provided.
An attractive site for a major potential user group, but it falls down badly on
delivery.
Design B; Functionality B; Topicality E; Quality of information C; Relevance to
chemists C.
Chemical Engineering
Another site corresponding to a print magazine.
The well-designed home page branches into:
1. Features. Reasonably well-written, from the printed version on topics
such as Y2K compliance and corporate espionage. References in
these articles are few, and not clickable, throwing you back to the
print version for further information, so not a lot of value was added
by having a web version.
2. News items called 'Chementators'. This is a useful service for anyone
whose interests lie in chemical engineering/process development.
3. New products and services. This section was mediocre (and out-ofdate) - if you should happen to need a BB300 jaw crusher from F.
Kurt Reisch GmbH in Germany, no contact name, address, telephone
number or email address is given.
In general this site gave indications of expectations exceeding performance.
Many links did not work. There is a calendar section which is only
accessible from the 'last issue', and when seen most of the events were
already past.
Design C; Functionality D; Topicality C; Quality of information C; Relevance to
chemists C.
Chem Bytes (RSC)
This comes closer than any of the sites already mentioned to being a useful
resource for mainstream chemists. Its best feature is a web-based
database of databases, the Chemistry Resource Locator, which contains
direct links to some useful resources. Included in these resources are a
large number of specialist RSC information sites, such as Focus on Organic
Dyes and Colours (monthly, but the most recent issue on the web was 6
months old).
This web page links in to the main RSC home page which leads on to
information about RSC products, information and services. In general, a
valuable resource but with a rather dull and bureaucratic feel, and few
graphics. A good place to start for routine factual information, but not
inspiring.
Design E; Functionality D; Topicality C; Quality of information B; Relevance to
chemists A.
Chemical Week
The home page leads to a wide range of potentially useful features, such as
conferences, trade shows and directories. However, it lists only
conferences organised by Chemical Week (only 10). The directories page is
useful, covering a range of different topics, from each page of which you
can download an acrobat pdf file.
For four of the services (index of back issues, buyer's guide, Executive
Edition and product focus), it is necessary to register. The home page says
'register once only for all', but in fact it means 'register once only for each.
The Executive Edition contained a dozen or so of the usual type of business
news information items such as 'Church and Dwight Acquires Majority
Stake in Brazilian Partner'.
Overall, a reasonable site of the business-magazine type.
Design C; Functionality B; Topicality B; Quality of information C; Relevance to
chemists C.
Chemistry and Industry
Again, this website corresponds to a print publication. Chemistry & Industry
is an interesting and well-written magazine, so expectations were high.
Initial impressions were good. The home page is jazzy and attractive
without being trivialising.
The website is announced as 'A twice-monthly roundup of international and
interdisciplinary news features, comments and views', covering chemistry
and a number of good interrelated areas. It does not contain everything that
is in the printed version and in general the content is fairly sketchy. It
includes useful features such as a jobsearch service.
This site sadly falls down on topicality and depth of content, however. The
jobs page held only 4 jobs, the deadline for two having already passed. The
conference timetable only includes conferences organised by Chemistry &
Industry. The magazine archive did not contain anything more recent than
1997.
All in all a great disappointment and unlikely to attract regular users.
Design A; Functionality D; Topicality E; Quality of information D; Relevance to
chemists B.
Reed Magazines Online
A large site giving access to Reed chembusiness journals; European
Chemical News, Asian Chemical News, Asia Pacific Chemical,
Performance Chemicals International, Chemical Insight.
Performance Chemicals International was well presented and features such
as the conference calendar were up-to-date. Hotlinks worked, and this gave
access to information and product prices for a number of chemical
companies. However, the 'Editorial Programme" in fact gave access only to
article titles, leaving you to take out a print subscription or request a sample
copy just to find out if the article is really of interest to you. Asian Chemical
News and Chemical Insight were even more heavily restricted, and
accessible over the Web only to print subscribers or those requesting a free
sample print copy.
Again, to sample Chemical News and Intelligence, you have to register and
fill in an extensive form -then 'someone will contact you by phone/email to
arrange your free trial'- too restrictive for a mere browser.
Design B; Functionality B; Topicality A; Quality of information D; Relevance to
chemists D.
The Alchemist
At last! A home page that looks as if it is designed by and for chemists
rather than industrial managers or bureaucrats. This is the webzine of
ChemWeb.com, the virtual community for chemists. How nice to see some
pure chemistry detail as part of the well thought-out comment in some of
the news stories. The news items on the opening page are a lively mixture
of pure chemistry research advances, applied chemistry, and quirky 'sideissue' items.
Updated daily, each news item has hotlinks to related stories, websites and
ChemWeb.com-wide search results. The conference diary is reasonably
up-to-date, though not particularly extensive (although it does link in to the
full ChemWeb.com Conference Diary which lists hundreds of chemistry
events worldwide).
There is also a Conference Reporter, providing online updates direct from
worldwide chemistry events, as well as a Job Exchange. The book reviews
section contained some extremely well-written reviews by subject
specialists.
If this site can be criticised, it is that it casts its net very widely outside
chemistry, and in the search to stay lively, includes items of peripheral
interest. It is a tricky balance to hit, but the writers give the strong
impression that they are moving in the right directions.
The Alchemist is a pure webzine, not a marketing vehicle for a print product,
and therefore has no reason to hold back any information from the reader.
The news is updated daily, and it's all free.
Design B; Functionality A;. Topicality B; Quality of information B; Relevance to
chemists A.
The Alchemist http://chemweb.com/alchemist/
Chemical Engineering http://che.com/
Chemical & Engineering News http://pubs.acs.org/cen/index.html
Today's Chemist at Work http://pubs.acs.org/journals/tcwoe7/index.html
BioPharm Magazine http://www.biopharm-mag.com/
New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/
The Core http://www.uilondon.org/index.htm
Chemistry & Industry http://ci.mond.org/
ChemSoc Newsbytes http://chemsoc.org/gateway/chembyte/chembyt3.htm
Chemical Week http://www.chemweek.com/
Chemical Online http://www.chemicalonline.com/
Reed Chemicals Magazines http://www.reedchemicals.com/
Dr John Buckingham
Freelance Chemistry Writer/Publisher, Consultant Editor - Dictionary of
Natural Products
Jenny Drey
Freelance Writer
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)171 622 9301
Email: jenny.drey@dial.pipex.com
MORE CHEMISTRY SITE SEEING - contributions by
Philip Howard, Steve Rosenthal and Bruce Slutsky
(Editors Note - This will be a permanent feature of the CINF E-News. I am
constantly looking for chemistry web sites that will be of interest to
chemistry researchers)
The first 11 sites were contributed by Steve Rosenthal:
1. Macrogalleria
Macrogalleria, a site for school children, introduces polymers using
3D pictures of molecules and movies of reactions.
http://www.psrc.usm.edu/macrog/index.htm
2. Polymers & Liquid Crystals
freshman chemistry level
A huge virtual textbook that's searchable, making it a useful reference.
The site has a virtual lab with interactive applets that let you test the
viscosity of a polymer solution or the birefringence (light bending
properties) of a material.
http://plc.cwru.edu/tutorial/enhanced/main.htm
3. Astronomy and physics references at Astrophysics Data System
The Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a NASA-funded project
whose main resource is an Abstract Service, which includes four sets
of abstracts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
astronomy and astrophysics, containing 525,271 abstracts
instrumentation, containing 524,660 abstracts
physics and geophysics, containing 443,858 abstracts
Los Alamos preprint server, containing 3,159 abstracts
Each dataset can be searched by author, object name (astronomy
only), title, or abstract text words. In addition, we have extended the
abstract service to include links to the full text of articles appearing in
most of the major astronomical journals. See the Article Service for
details.
In addition to the Abstract Service, the ADS provides access or
pointers to astronomical data catalogs and data archives, thereby
making data collected by NASA space missions available to
astronomers.
http://adswww.harvard.edu/
4. Capillary electrophoresis
The one-stop webpage covering all aspects of Capillary
Electrophoresis (CE) and Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC).
http://www.ceandcec.com/
5. SIMS
The WWW site for the exchange of practical information about
secondary ion mass spectrometry. Here you will find information
about the Annual Workshop on SIMS - the non profit organization
devoted to education on various aspects of secondary ion mass
spectrometry. You will find some links to introductory information
about SIMS as well a history of the SIMS Workshop. Material about
the goals for this WWW site and the SIMS Listserver is included.
Some practical information about how this site was developed is
given and a library of some of the graphics used on this site is
provided for your use.
http://www.simsworkshop.org/
6. The CEA Surface Analysis Online Tutorials
Part of a project supported in part by the National Science Foundation
to provide computer aided instruction software for surface analysis
techniques. Developed by Ron Fleming. Covers SIMS, RBS, AES
theory and instrumentation in 6 separate tutorials. Also contains links
to other similar sites.
http://www.cea.com/tutorial.htm
7. WebMolecules.com
The award-winning site:
** WebMolecules.com **
is now available at http://www.webmolecules.com/
Visualize molecules in 3D - real-time on the Web - for FREE!
WebMolecules.com is a FREE, sponsor-supported site.
Designed for the 3D visualization of molecules, it contains over
125,000 molecular structures in 3D.
Thousands of common molecules are organized into 30+ categories.
Our TOP 2000 includes molecules of commercial value, educational
importance, and of topical interest. It is indexed by formula and
category and is also fully searchable.
Our TOP 2000 molecules include:
Top 100 pollutants
Top 100 commercial chemicals
Top 200 pharmaceuticals
Common valence geometries
Common orbital configurations
WebMolecules.com is great for student and classroom use.
8. IR spectra database
I found this site mentioned in a message from CHMINF-L.
http://www.aist.go.jp/RIODB/SDBS/menu-e.html
9. Basics of NMR
Dr. Joseph Hornak of the Rochester Institute of Technology presents
this high quality hypertextbook for in-depth coverage of the physics
and technique behind Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) (For Dr.
Hornak's _Basics of MRI_, see the August 4, 1999 Scout Report for
Science & Engineering). The material is presented in a detailed and
clear manner without over simplifying the concepts. Chapters include
"The Mathematics of NMR," "Spin Physics," "NMR Spectroscopy,"
"Fourier Transforms," "Pulse Sequences," and much more. A chapter
on "NMR Hardware" offers an overview of components (like the
superconducting magnet and various coils) used in most NMR
systems. The "Practical Considerations" chapter emphasizes
spectroscopic techniques. With the screen split into two separate
frames, explanatory graphics can be viewed alongside the text. A
glossary and a list of symbols are also included in this carefully
produced textbook.
http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/nmr/nmr-main.htm
10.
The ESCA Users group Surface Science Site
The ESCA Users group is a forum for scientists from academia and
industry with a common interest in Electron Spectroscopy for
Chemical Analysis and surface science in general. It meets twice
yearly, in January and July, to discuss the latest research and issues
of interest to the surface science community and to exchange views
on current trends. In addition to these regular meetings the group
produces a newsletter for its members which is available on-line from
this site.
http://www.ukesca.org/home.html
11.
Spectroscopy Online
Spectroscopy Online is the web site for Spectroscopy (the magazine).
This site contains a number of useful features about spectroscopy in
general. The contents include spectroscopy news, events, techniques,
resources, useful links, featured products, articles and archives from
the magazine, glossaries, some courses and tutorials, and career
information.
http://www.spectroscopyonline.com/
Bruce Slutsky contributed the following sites:
Analytical Chemistry Springboard http://www.anachem.umu.se/jumpstation.htm - It is maintained by Kurt
Irgum of Umea University. It is an attempt to present a comprehensive list
of analytical chemistry resources on the Internet.
Chuck Huber has compiled a list of chemistry departments in the United
States and outside of the United States.
( http://www.library.ucsb.edu/docs/chemuniv.html andhttp://www.library.ucs
b.edu/docs/chemuni2.html , respectively) The former contains links to the
web pages of chemistry and biochemistry departments at four-year
academic institutions in the United States. Also included are general
science departments if chemistry is prominently featured and a bachelor's
degree in chemistry is offered, as are the chemistry sections of national
research laboratories (e.g. Argonne, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos),
and some chemistry related research links. This site is the United States
component of the International University Chemistry Departments site,
maintained by Dr. Michael Barker at the University of Liverpool, a
cooperative project to provide lists of academic chemistry departments
maintained in their respective host countries.
How to find physical and chemical properties:
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~chemlib/properties.html - compiled by the
Chemistry Library of Duke University. When users click on a physical
property, they are given a list of print and electronic resourses where
information may be found.
http://www.asu.edu/lib/noble/chem/property.htm - compiled by Arizona
State University. Similar to the above.
Thermodex http://thermodex.lib.utexas.edu/ - compiled by the Mallet
Chemistry Library of the University of Texas at Austin. This database
contains records for printed handbooks and compilations of thermodynamic
and thermophysical data for chemical compounds and other substances.
You can enter both a type of compound and a property, and ThermoDex
will return a list of handbooks that might contain this data. Full entries
include title, a brief abstract explaining the work's scope and arrangement,
the properties included, types of compounds included, as well as publisher
and date, and local library location.
Table of the nuclides - http://www.dne.bnl.gov/CoN
Computational Chemistry List http://www.ccl.net/index.shtml - an e-mail
exploder which allows computational chemistry researchers from around
the world to exchange information and experiences. It was created to
promote contact between researchers involved in chemistry-related
computation. This list is not restricted to any particular chemistry software
or methodology; anyone is welcome to subscribe.
Surfactants Virtual Library - http://www.surfactants.net/ contains links to
surfactant and detergent related web sites. We strive to be the most
comprehensive and organized source for surfactant information on the
internet. The referenced sites contain information on companies, research
centers, researchers, phenomena such as foaming, detergency, micelles,
surface tension, emulsions, microemulsions, and applications such as
cleaning, cosmetics,environmental remediation, etc. Links to over 1100
sites are compiled in this virtual library.
WebReactions http://www.webreactions.net/ is a unique reaction search
system offering direct retrieval of reaction precedents through the internet.
The system is easy to learn and use and is extremely fast in locating
matches for reaction queries from the database.
World of Chemistry - http://www.chemsite.com/ - The definitive source of
information for the chemical industry.
ChemEd: Chemistry Education Resources- http://wwwhpcc.astro.washington.edu/scied/chemistry.html compiled by the University
of Washington.
This final site was contributed by Philip Howard:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Environmental Fate Data Bases Available on Syracuse Research
Corporation's Web Site
Visit the web site of the Environmental Science Center of Syracuse
Research Corporation (SRC) at http://esc.syrres.com/ for free access to the
Environmental Fate Data Bases (EFDB). This data base identifies or
provides on-line all of the information necessary for assessing human or
environmental exposure to chemicals from occupational and consumer use,
environmental contamination, and food consumption.
EFDB was developed under the sponsorship of the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in 1979 to:
Allow rapid access to available environmental fate data on a given
chemical;
Identify critical gaps in the available information to facilitate planning of
research needs; and
Provide a data source for constructing structure-activity correlations for
degradability and transport of chemicals in the environment.
EFDB is comprised of several interrelated files, DATALOG, BIOLOG,
CHEMFATE, and BIODEG and its free access is being supported by EPA
and Procter and Gamble.
DATALOG is a bibliographic file indexed by Chemical Abstract Service
(CAS) registry number that contains 18 types of environmental fate data,
including physical properties, environmental degradation and transport
processes, and monitoring data. This file contains over 300,000 records on
over 16,000 chemicals.
BIOLOG provides sources of microbial toxicity and biodegradation data.
BIOLOG contains 60,000 records on 7,600 chemicals.
CHEMFATE contains 23 categories of environmental fate and
physical/chemical property information on commercially important chemical
compounds.
Actual experimental values are abstracted and retained in the file.
CHEMFATE contains 17,214 records on 1,728 chemicals.
BIODEG contains experimental values relating to biodegradation studies
and includes evaluation codes that can be used for predicting
biodegradability. This file contains actual experimental results on
biodegradation studies for approximately 1,000 chemicals.
Syracuse Research Corporation is an independent, not-for-profit research
and development leader focused on technology programs of national
significance. Today, the Corporation employs over 300 people in nine
locations across the United States. SRC is affiliated with SRC Management
Inc. Over the past five years, SRC has doubled in revenue and this growth
is projected to continue.
OTHER CHEMICAL INFORMATION MEETINGS
Our colleague Wendy Warr has compiled a list of meetings of interest to the
chemical information community. You may find it
at http://www.warr.com/meet00.html
CINF PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Mary Moulton is now Reference Librarian with Air Products and Chemicals
in Allentown, PA. You may contact her at moultome@apci.com.