Delivering chemical information in
the age of tight budgets:
Faculty and librarian cooperation at
Trinity University
Steven M. Bachrach
Barbara MacAlpine
Department of Chemistry
Coates Library
Trinity University
San Antonio TX 78212
ACS Chicago 2007
Trinity University

Private Liberal Arts University
– Engineering and Business Administration
– Master’s Degrees in Accounting, Health Care
Administration, School Administration, School
Psychology, Teaching

Small School
– 2487 Undergraduates
– 231 Graduate students
– 228 Faculty
ACS Chicago 2007
Department of Chemistry
8 full-time, tenure track faculty in all
of the major disciplines of chemistry
 Graduate 20-25 chemistry and
biochemistry majors annually
 ACS certified program

ACS Chicago 2007
Research Activities
$710,000 external grants
 Average 10+ peer reviewed
publications per year
 Seven post-doctoral associates
 Research program involves
undergraduate students, primarily
through the Summer Research
Program

ACS Chicago 2007
2006 Summer Research Program
ACS Chicago 2007
Student Research
Average 40 students each summer
 Presentations at National ACS
meetings (10 this meeting), PittCon,
and regional meetings
 Co-authors on most of our published
papers

ACS Chicago 2007
Coates Library
Books and bound periodical
volumes: > 937,000
 Journal subscriptions: ~2,400 titles
 Journal access: ~24,000 titles
 Recipient of the 2007 ACRL
Excellence in Academic Libraries
Award

ACS Chicago 2007
Coates Library Total Acquisitions Budget
2006—2007
 2005—2006
 2004—2005
 2003—2004
 2002—2003
$1,605,838
$1,574,348
$1,499,348
$1,427,950
$1,327,950

ACS Chicago 2007
Approach to Chemical Information
Delivery (beginning 2000-2001)

Department defined goals
– Access to research-grade information
– Incorporation of primary literature into
the research program
– Incorporation of primary literature into
the classroom throughout the
curriculum
ACS Chicago 2007
Define “Access”
Key component identified: “finding
article(s) of interest”
 So “access” becomes principally
useful searching of chemical
databases

ACS Chicago 2007
Useful Chemical Searching

Important databases owned in 2001
– Print CA
– Print Science Citation Index

Making them “useful”
– SciFinder
– Web of Science
ACS Chicago 2007
Access to Articles
Need not be through own holdings
 Transition to electronic access
 Premium on scope

– Can we get to any and all journals?

Secondary is speed
– How long until article in one’s hand?
ACS Chicago 2007
Phase 1 – Fall 2002

Librarians approach department with
the annual “generate the hit list”
request
ACS Chicago 2007
Department’s response:
Cancel print CA
 Cancel Tetrahedron Letters
 Purchase single-seat SciFinder
license
 Establish department line item for
one-day document delivery with
CISTI

ACS Chicago 2007
SciFinder in the classroom

First introduced in second semester of
first year (organic chemistry lab)
 Instruction by science librarian
 Assignment to search on pinacol
rearrangement, locate a recent article in
an organic chemistry journal and
summarize the article
 All subsequent lab classes require some
search and reporting (compound
information, introductory materials to lab
reports, etc.)
ACS Chicago 2007
SciFinder Search Statistics

2006—2007
5,083
(June-Feb. 07)
2005—2006
 2004—2005
 2003—2004
 2002—2003
7,761
7,591
8,031
6,295

ACS Chicago 2007
Phase 2 – 2003-2006
Cancel print ACS journals
 Consortial arrangements to get
electronic access to full ACS suite
and additional Wiley publications
 ACS journal backfile
 Web of Science

ACS Chicago 2007
Trinity University Consortia
TICUL (Texas Independent College &
University Libraries) – provides
access to all ACS journals
 GWLA (Greater Western Library
Alliance – provides access to many
Wiley journals (along with TICUL)
 Oberlin Group – provides WoS

ACS Chicago 2007
ACS online journal downloads

2006—2007
5,635
(June-Jan. 07)
2005—2006
 2004—2005
5,920
5,191

ACS Chicago 2007
Phase 3 – 2006-current
Library unilaterally cancels all
Elsevier journal subscriptions
 Creates accounts for each
department with ScienceDirect

– allow faculty to purchase articles as
needed for $30/each

Current chemistry journal
subscriptions - 61
ACS Chicago 2007
Department’s response
Disappointed in lack of input
 Loss of “our” money
 Loss of control

ACS Chicago 2007
New directions

With cost savings from Elsevier
cancellations, exploring
– RSC backfile (single-time purchase)
– Elsevier MDL Discovery Gate
– Additional SciFinder seat
– Nature publication suite
ACS Chicago 2007
Take home message

Librarians and faculty as partners
– Librarians educate faculty as to
publishing realities
– Faculty define pedagogical/research
goals

Explore alternatives
– iTunes model
ACS Chicago 2007
Acknowledgment
Diane Graves – Coates Library director
 Chemistry faculty – Nancy Mills, Bill

Kurtin, Michelle Bushey, Chris Pursell,
Bert Chandler, John Spence, Adam
Urbach, Laura Hunsicker-Wang, Jessica
Hollenbeck

All of the other usual suspects
ACS Chicago 2007