CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING
ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY SERIES
NEWS
Numbers 15 and 17 Demonstrate Rapidly Crowing Interest h Documentation; International Conference To Be Held i n 1958
AUGUST 2 0 , 1^56
V O U 34, N O . 34
APPLIED JOURNALS, ACS Director of Publications: C B. Larrab·· Editorial Directors W . «I. Murphy Executive Editor: James M . Crow· Production Manager* Joseph H . Kuney CHEMICAL AHD ENGINEERING NEWS Editor: Richard L. Kenyon Managing Editor: Robert F. Gould EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON 6, O . C. 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Phone Republic 7-53O0 Teletype WA 23 Associate Editors: Robert G . GIbbs, David M . Kfefer, George B. Krantx Assistant Editors: Kathryn Campbell, Helen H . Blunt, Irene G . Kiefor. Betty V. Κ letter, Whllden W. Johnson, Morton Sal kind, David E. Gushee Editorial Assistants: Ruth C. LaubacH, Betty J . Corday, Barbara R. Christie, Hanns L. Sperr Staff Artist: Melvf η D. Buckner BRANCH EDITORIAL OFFICES CHICAGO 1 , I L L . 86 East Randolph S t . Phone S t a t e 2-7686 Teletype CG 725 Associate Editor: A l b e r t s . Hester Assistant Editor: Chester Placek HOUSTON 2, T E X . 1918 Melrose Bldg. Phone Fairfax 3-7107 Teletype HO 72 Associate Editor: Harry W. Haines, Jr. Assistant Editor: Bruce F. Greek NEW Y O R K 16, Ν. Υ. 2 Park Ave. Phone Oregon 9-1646 Teletype WA 23 Associate Editors: * Harry Stenerson, Howard J . Sanders, D. Gray Weaver Assistant Editor: Walter S. Fedor SAN FRANCISCO 4 , CALIF. 703 Mechanics' institute Bldg. 57 Post St. Phone Ex brook 2-2895 Teletype S F 549 Associate Editors: Gordon H . Bixler, Kenneth M . Reese
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J N UMBEBS 16 and 17 in the Advances series have m a d e their a p p e a r a n c e . The titles are: "A Key t o Pharmaceutical a n d Medicinal Chemistry Literature** and 'Training of l i t e r a t u r e Chemists." T h e first is a collection of papers presented before t h e Divisions of Chemical Literature a n d Medicinal Chemistry; the second consists of papers given before a joint meeting of t h e Divisions of Chemical Kducation a n d Chemical Literature. Glancing at the titles of subjects covered to date in the Advances series, it becomes evident that a substantial literature is being built by literature chemists, largely t h r o u g h t h e divisions in t h e AMERICAN C H E M I C A L SOCIETY.
Number 4 , "Searching t h e Chemical Literature,*" has been reprinted several times and frequently is referred to as the "bible" of literature chemists. Number 10, ""Literature Resources for Chemical Process Industries," is in much demand. Nomenclature is a subject of direct importance to the literature chemist, and Number 8 , entitled "Chemical Nomenclature," and Number 14, " N o m e n clature for Terpene Hydrocarbons," have m a d e solid contributions in this field. It is difficult to imagine any literature chemist or technical librarian being without most of t h e numbers printed t o date in the Advances series. T h e idea for the series came to t h e writer at two o'clock one morning i n 1949, when h e should h a v e been asleep. Instead, he was wrestling w i t h the problem of what t o d o in the way of publishing a very outstanding symposium on agricultural control chemicals. It consisted of a n u m b e r of papers which, b y no stretch of the imagination, could b e incorporated into any of t h e Society's existing journals. Without the publication of these papers, liowever, m u c h of the value of the symposium would b e lost. The "monograph" type of approach seemed like an excellent solution. T h e original purpose of Advances—a vehicle for t h e publication of v e r y highly specialized symposia—has been broadened to include publication of fundamental data. N u m b e r 6, "Azeotropic D a t a , " and Number 15, "Physical Properties of Chemical Compounds," are examples of the latter function. To return t o the subject of chemical literature, M . G. Mellon, chairman of t h e symposium "Training of Literature Chemists," points out that t h e schooling of enough such individuals is still a n unsolved educational problem. Certainly the n e e d for literature chemists, or documentalists, a term n o w i n wide use, will increase as the fields of chemistry, chemical technology, a n d other branches of science grow. T h e amount of recorded chemical knowledge already at hand staggers the imagination. Since t h e tempo of research is expanding fantastically, we will b e dealing with a "Tower of Babel" a decade or two hence if revolutionary approaches in many directions are not developed in a reasonable period of time. W e hear today a great deal about "productivity of research." W e will hear more in the future. Research costs, however, are rising sharply. Inevitably this means that even in research, t h e word "efficiency" will b e mentioned more often. An obvious way to improve efficiency is to develop better and faster ways of literature searching. Any organization is n o t efficient—indeed, it is downright inefficient if, through ignorance of what i s in t h e literature, work already performed satisfactorily is duplicated. Great credit is d u e t h e Division of Chemical Literature for pioneering, not only in t h e field of chemical literature, b u t in the broader fields of documentation. Today there is widespread interest in documentation a n d scientific communication, not only among literature chemists, librarians, a n d documentalists, but in management circles as well, where "productivity of research" is a meaningful term. W e are pleased to learn that a week-long International Conference o n Scientific Information will be held in Washington in t h e spring of 1 9 5 8 . It will b e sponsored by t h e American Documentation Institute, the National Academy of Sciences (through the National Research Council), and t h e National Science Foundation. It should provide still further opportunity for a thorough discussion of the present status of research on scientific communications problems and methods of solving them.
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