Finding the Literature' BYRON A. SOULE University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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CIENTIFIC knowledge consists of two parts, the pubhshed mformation or literature and the unpublished experience or technique. College students spend long hours on practice experiments learning to follow directions intelligently, to master methods and, above all, to become systematic. At the same time they encounter a few textbooks and laboratory manuals selected to meet their immediate needs. Occasionally they go to the library to read chapters in marked books placed on a special shelf by a thoughtful instructor. Of course students do seek some information on their own account. They locate the perfectly obvious immediately, but for anything beyond the obvious they quickly learn that the library instructions of highschool days are inadequate. After glancing around for a short time they give up and conclude that nothing has been published on the topic of immediate interest or, what is worse, they may locate incorrect data and upon discovering the fact, decide that libraries are places in which to loaf and store useless books. This decision is unfortunate because it ultimately leads to the waste of time, energy, and chemicals through needless repetition of work already well done and described in some book or journal. Neither the laboratory nor the library should be neglected. They form complementary parts of the approach to any research goal. Fundamentally the methods used in each are alike in many respects, but in spite of the oft-repeated statements by educators there appears to be very little if any transfer of laboratory skill to the library. Experiments are carefully planned down to the last detail and executed with strict attention to every factor. Difficult library searches, however, are attempted without training or system, without any appreciation of the fact that as much time and thought may be necessary for good library work as for a chemical analysis of equal complexity. When the laboratory worker hangs up his coat to go to the library, for some unknown reason he also puts aside his skill in systematic procedure. He ignores the relationship between the search for a sentence and the detection of an ion. He uses the identical hit-and-miss methods emphatically condemned in the laboratory. He wastes time, blames the library, and turns to find the answer to his problem in flask and beaker, thinking perhaps that a t least he is on his feet doing something, not just resting in a chair. Possibly a trace of egotism also prompts his retreat to
1 Presented before the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society. 107th meeting, Cleveland, Ohio. April 4. 1944.
the laboratory. When a searcher discovers a procedure in the library, he must thank someone else for the assistance. If he works it out himself, confidence in his own ability is increased. The pioneer spirit prevails in spite of the fact that an equal expenditure of welldirected energy in the library may yield better results. Unfamiliarity with bibliographical tools and techniques is also an important factor in the laboratorian's defeat when he attempts to wrest secrets from books. Each year the increase in chemical literature is a t least 50,000 pages. Without an intimate knowledge of searching aids or the skill to use them efficiently, the task of loc?ting obscure data is too much for anyone who must spend his best hours in the laboratory. He should gladly pass the work on to a specialist exactly as he does when intricate electrical devices and complicated glass apparatus are required. His ~ u m p h comes in the use of these adjuncts, not in their construction. To whom shall he turn for library aid? The obvious person is the trained librarian. Unfortunately, as now released from our schools of library science, she is not personally acquainted with laboratory operations. The language of the sciences is unfamiliar to her so the technical association of ideas and subjects is impossible. When asked for a particular volume she can promptly find it, but in general her training is confined to book buying and guardianship. Her responsibility ends a t the cover. One should not expect more in this age of narrower and narrower specialization. The library technologist is the logical person to assume the responsibility for these special searches. He has had sound training in laboratory science, the fundamentals of bibliography both general and special, and preferably some experience in the economics of the industrial world. This person knows the language of chemistry. He can handle the library part of an investigation exactly as the laboratorian deals with the manipulative part. He will furnish sensible ideas derived from the literature rather than from the test tube. He must be recognized as a collaborator, not as a clerk or lackey. Research directors long ago realized that the best way to conduct an investigation is to divide it into parts and assign each unit to a capable person. They also found that research work is expensive and talent must be appreciated. These facts are as true in the library as in the laboratory. A library expert is worthy of his position. The methods of the library technologist are as difficult to enumerate as are those of the chemist. The latter deals with the transformations of matter. He believes firmly in the constancy of Nature and sound-
ness of the scientific method. A library technologist is concerned with the location of useful data and appraisal of their validity. He examines the records of human thought and observation based on experiments ~erformedand reoorted bv o e o ~ l ewho varv widelv in their mani~ulativeskill, interpretive powers, and ability to write. *1n other words, the probiems of the l i b r a j expert are created for him by the scientist and his activities as an author. To the extent that these differ so also must the methods of the searcher vary. The procedure in any case involves a plan based on the following points:
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used as guides to the abstract. Later the words and formulas are arranged in an order determined by rnles. Theoretically, at any subsequent time anyone interested in some phase of the original work can, by searching the indexes, find his wav back to the article, gather de-
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Abstract
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Exactly what is wanted? No search should he started without a clear answer to this question. 2. Why wanted? The search is definitely oriented when one knows the purpose for which the information is to be used. 3. What to seek? Specific search words or headings appropriate to each language. These words should he selected with due regard to synonyms, antonyms, relevancy, word order, spelling, etc. -1. Where t o look? Choice of librarv. .. tvoe of literature (book.. .iournal. patent, pamphlet), and period t o be covered. Always classify places: likely, possible, improbable. 5. How to search? The knack of saving time involves a systematic and efficient use of guides t o the sources. 6 . Checking An abstract is a seconddry source. One should always consult the original article if available; if not, compare abstracts in the various journals. 7 Evaluation Pertinency and essentiality. Recency. I n a rapidly changing field material over a year old may be valueless. Reliability (Author, method, materials, numerical data). 8. Completeness How thorough must the search be? When does the law of diminishing returns apply? 9. Record of search Legal aspects in case of patentable ideas.
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Chemical literature may be divided, for search purposes, into four groups: journals, booksreference, text, and monographic-patents, and search aids. Over 4000 journals are listed by Chemical Abstracts but studies based upon reference frequency indicate that approximately a dozen are of major consequence. The keys to journal articles are of course the indexes of the abstract journals, Chemical Abstracts probably being the most important in the world today. Anyone attempting to use these aids should understand the search cycle for journals (Figure 1). All original reports of research are based upon experiments the essential features of which are the experimenter, materials, operations, and results. When the experimenter takes up his pen he assumes the role of an author. After the publication of his article an abstractor reads it and prepares a summary of the portions he believes to be new. This summary or abstract ultimately reaches an indexer who selects what he considers the appropriate key words and formulas to be
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sired ideas, do further experimenting himself, and thus complete the cycle. The entire scheme is based upon two premises, n i x , that the experimenter is also a good writer and that the selection of words to represent an idea is consistent throughout the cycle. The weakest links in the chain appear to be the first and last. Scientists are constantly under criticism for their poor exposition and readers are generally conceded to be inefficient searchers. (Perhaps insufficient is a more appropriate term.) They seldom make use of the fact that every index entry carries implications, that every experiment involves chemicals and apparatus which may be useful elsewhere. For example, when one desires a method for the purification of benzene good articles to examine are those involving the determination of some physical property of that substance, since it is reasonable to assume that such articles will tell how the test sample was obtained. In other words, a knowledge of relations and a good imagination are essential ingredients of every search. On the whole, the journal literature of chemistry is more readily accessible than that of any other field, thanks to the abstracting work promoted by our national societies. We do not need more or better indexes as much as we require more and better training in the technique of using these guides.
The book literature of chemistry is in a less satisfactory state for search purposes than the journal literature because the keys are less adequate. When a new book is issued there is usually a publisher's announcement. It may contain the table of contents. Later the Publisher's Weekly and Cumulati~eBook Index mention the author and title, while two or three journals print reviews which may be quoted in the Technical Book R&ew Index. Chemical Abstracts gives the author, title, imprint, pagination, and price. If the book is purchased by a local library, cards from the Library of Congress are entered in the local card catalog under author, title, and two or three subject headings. The unfortunate part of this situation is that few scientists go to a library looking for information armed with the informant's name or the title of his book. The reader wants a certain statement, description, graph, table, or diagram. None of the sources mentioned will help him. He must either know where the item is or start a book-by-book search after classifying the volumes locally available into likely, possible, and improbable sources. If it so happens that he is acquainted with someone who knows the l i t e r a t u r e a socalled ambulant catalog-that person may be able to find the desired material a t once. Without him the search may be long and fruitless, largely because there are too many books to examine individually, or because the usual library card catalog is not sufficientlydetailed. For a subject specialist the book is too large a unit to be satisfactorily catalogd by the use of four or five entries. The chemist-searcher must know his sources, their strong points and their weaknesses. He must be intimately acquainted with the outstanding reference books such as Beilstein, Landolt-Bornstein, International Critical Tables, Gmelin, Mellor, and Friend. The encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, receipt books, and quick reference material should be cultivated. Annual surveys, reviews, and monographs are also important. While good textbooks are excellent starting points for orientation in a search they are usually too xeneral and too ephemeral to be worthy of much consider..I 1'ton. The third main subdivision embraces the natcnt literature, a field wherein the exploiter seeks maximum protectionfor minimum disclosure, wherefore the searcher must have his intuition especially well developed. In addition to the official journals and their classification schemes, which are often more helpful than the indexes, there are the standard summaries such as Friedlander, Brauer and D'Ans, Houben, Wagner, Winther, and Worden. In addition there are a nuqber of compilers who have searched some one subject and published their findings, e. g., Faust on cellulose compounds. Evidence submitted in patent cases before the courts frequently contains valuable information of a chemical nature. A knowledge of methods used for searching the legal literature is required here. During the past
year or two congressional committees have investigated patent monopolies and published their findings. Senator O'Mahoney and his Temporary National Economic Committee have issued many volumes containing the minutes of their meetings, several of which were devoted to patents. Senator Bone's Committee on Patents also has published a number of books dealing with the subject. Many government publications such as these are difficultto find, particularly when one is unaware of their existence. It will probably be inferred from the preceding statements that patent work is a division of narrower specialization within the domain of scientific literature. This is true. Searches for validity, prior art, etc., are complicated for people unacquainted with the technique and sources. The involved phraseology of a patent is enough to scare away all but the bravest. Before leaving this subject the activities of the Alien Property Custodian deserve consideration. He has taken possession of several thousand patents and induced a number of experts to prepare abstracts and a detailed index of their contents. This material should be a valuable aid in patent search work. Incidentally, it is apparently less well known that the Alien Property Custodian has seized all copyrights owned by Axis and Axis-dominated aliens. Certain firms in this country, notably Edwards Brothers of Ann Arbor, Michigan, have been licensed to reproduce and sell the books of more urgent demand in the war effort. A copy of Edwards Brothers' catalog is worthy of examination if for no other reason than as a carefully selected list of important German books. The fourth and last subdivision of the literature, namely, search aids, includes a wide variety of books. Crane and Patterson's "Literature of Chemistry," and Mellon's "Chemical Publications" are both very useful surveys. The "Bibliography of Bibliographies" by West and Berolzheimer, while good for the period covered, should be revised and brought up to date. A very valuable but much neglected compilation is Poggendorff's "Biographical Dictionary." Under the name of each person mentioned in the books will be found a very brief biographical sketch and a practically complete bibliography of the subject's writings. The second edition of Gregory's "Union List of Serials," "Thomas' Register," Snell and Suell's "Chemicals of Commerce," Abderhalden's "Handlexikon," and other books in applied chemistry as well as those in the closely related fields of physics and the natural sciences all prove very useful a t times. These examples are but suggestions regarding the types of material that a searcher will need. Everyone will find that some of his favorities have not been mentioned. If the meagerness of the list does no more than stimulate the preparation of a complete survey it will have served its purpose.
