information instructor
edited bv ARLEENSOMERV~LLE Carlson Libraw
Univenity of Rochester Rochester, NY 14627
Chemical Abstracts: Switching to Electronic Access Larry M. Wier
St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure NY 14778. Over the course ofthe last two years, access to Chemical Abstracts (CA) a t our universitv has chaneed dramatically At the beginning of this time period, our library received only biweekly CA issues without any cumulative indexes. Faculty could request computer searches on the DIALOG system through a reference librarian, who performed the actual search. Chemical Abstracts "hits" could be looked up in the hard copy by abstract number. Student searches had to go throuzh a facultv member or be aid for by the stude;. ~ h e m l & ystudents received no direct electronic searching experience; assignments in our one credit, required Chemical Literature course used the hard copy issues and older indexes. In late 1989, change was forced upon us; a review by Chemical Abstracts Service reclassified our university from the lowest academic rate for undergraduate schools to a higher graduate school rate. The price of Chemical Abstmcts increased fivefold and the libraw cancelled our hardcopy subscription a t the end of 1989.in the spring of 1990 we were faced with offerine our Chemical Literature course without student access ticurrent issues of CA. Fortunately, both the Coordinator of Library Computer Services and myself were on the cam~us'Academic Computing committee; we presented a to the Committee to obtain modem access to CAS Online a t the library using STN Express as a front-end software. The idea d . Dean of Arts & Science ~rovidedthe was a ~ ~ r o v e the money for the STN Express software, and the library provided an IBM-com~atiblecom~uterand a modem as Dart of their automation project. we acquired CAS ~cademic Plan passwords.1 Because academic rates for CAS Online apply aRer 5 PM on weekdays and on Saturday, it was decided to locate access in the library e of 1992. the Chemical Literature In the s ~ r i n semester course wa; offired with six upperclass students, who were reauired to use the CAS Online and STN Exoress svstpm for their final assignment. Six research topics were chosen by the instructor in areas of his own personal interest and randomly assigned to the students. They were asked to print all their "hits" and turn in that printout (with an explanation if necessary) for a grade. The topics were: determination of aspirin, caffeine, and phenacetin by NMR; determination of ibuprofen by UV-VIS or IR spectroscopy; determination of ibuprofen by HPLC; determination of caf'For a full description,with wst information,of the CAS Academic Plan, contact the Chemical Abstracts Service Customer Service representative at 8001848-6538. 7Ready-to-dselect-re materals are avalable on 5 toplcs w~tnoLl cost Tne topics ncluoe Searcn ng CAon D ALOG: Searchmg CAon STh nternatonal: Patent Searcn ng on DIA-OG. Palent Searcnlng on STN nternationa . C tat on Searching Request from Ar een N Someralle. Car son L Drary. Jnlverstly of Rochesler, Rochester hY 14627.0236; 716 275-4465,
[email protected]~ler.e0~ 11'10 1 after db). ~~~
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Journal of Chemical Education
feine in beverages by W-VIS spectroswpy; determination of caffeine in beverages by HPLC; determination of solochrome violet wmplexes of aluminum by polarography or voltammetrv. The student results were subiectivelv eraded on the comdeteness and efficiencyof theirsearchisr~here were some ~roblemspetting started. but after a few tries. everyone &mpleted tlhe ass&unent. Generallv, the searches ~roduceduseful references. but the resultiwere sometimes incomplete. Given the small amount of prior instruction-a homework assignment using the demo disks on STN Overview, CAS Online, and STN Express and some inclass hints--the outcome was satisfactory. Undoubtedly, the results would improve with practice and better instruction. (This was also the instructor's first online searching experience; previous exposure to instructional materials from the Division of Chemical Information of the American Chemical Societv was helof ~ l , ~ bnot u t absolutely necessary, a s the STN ~ x ~ r esokss ware is verv user-friendlv. Next time around. the instructor intendsto spend mire time practicing searches and more time with students as thev do their searches.) Anytime front-end software 1i"ke STN Express is used, it is im~ortantto understand the built-in lopic that will be applied to the search criteria given. For example, if first, middle, and last names are given for an author, occurences without a middle initial will be missed. Also, fields on a given Guided Search "card" are "ORBed,but the "cards" themselves are "ANDned during the search. (The instructor learned this during the course of the searches; it pays to read the documentation ahead.) The CAS databases used are selected by the STN Express software. Overall, the students required little faculty help, and the total cost of their searches was surprising small-less than $90. Or, to state it another way, the cost was about $15 per student per assignment; our library graciously paid for these searches. STN Express enwurages off-line composition of searches, which helps to reduce online time and cost. The student reaction to the electronic searching was generally positive; they could see the advantages of online searchine w m ~ a r e dto searchina hard WDV indexes bv hand. which of the thiy had done earlier in &r wrm.Shce the c~&~letion Chemic;d 1.1tenture course. one of the student; has used the CAS Online searching ~ ~ ' S T Express N to search for fresh references for a senior research ~roiect. In summary, electronic access to^^^ provided an attractive and workable alternative to hard CODV ." access for our modest needs. Besides providing student access to current issues of Chemiml A h s t m l s , our faculty wn now do their own searches directly Clear13: electronic a&ess and hard wpy access are not eauivalent. and the best situation is to have both. The author wishes' to acknowledge the expert assistanceof Ms. Ann Tendund in the Friedsam Librarv for setting up the system, :he financial support provideb by the Dean of Arts and Science (STN Express software) and bv Friedsam Library (computer, modem, and search costs). '
