Instruction in Chemical Literature
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A SYMPOSIUM
lnstruction in Chemical Literature Industrial Librarian Viewpoint Ferne C. Allan1 Technical Literature Section. Texaco Chemical Company, P.O.Box 15730, Austin. TX 78761 Many universities are teaching effective courses in the use of chemical literature at present. Unfortunately, this approach is not universal nor aresuch courses always required. What happens when the university student graduates and becomes an industrial employee? Most chemists do find careers in industry or government, as shown at the Dreyfus Foundation Conference in 1979 (1). This paper considers two parts of this subject. First a descrintion is eiven of how the Technical Librarv a t Texaco chemical company conducts a course in the use i f the library and the literature therein. Second, sueeestions are given on are to how academia could most t h o ~ o u ~ h l ; ~ r e ~students utilize the information available to them in an industrial setting. Texaco Chemical Company Technical Library Course There are probably many ways that one could get involved in teaching librarv, course. In this examnle. . . manaeement asked that a course beset up toget the technical staff trained in using the lihrarv effectivelv. Soecific emohasis was to he on ~ h e k c a~l b s t i a c t s~, e i l s i e i iand , on-lke searching. ~~~
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Current address: Technical Information Center, Dept. 82-40 Unit 51. Plant 8-1. Lockheed-California Comoanv. Burbank. CA 91520. ~&ri"tsshould be solicited horn TEXACO r b p h departm.int at address aoove: mqulries lo author should oe addressed to LockheedGahfornia Company.
From a practical standpoint, the approach was 4pointed: 1. Identifying the users, 2. Finding what was available and modifying it for these users, 3. Logistics (Administrative details),and
4. Follow-up and feedback. Identifying Users
All libraries probably have some portion of the same spectrum of users that we do. We serve a small petrochemicals research lab, and the majority of our technical staff includes P h D chemists, chemical engineers, and field service representatives; each of these specialists has a different viewpoint and need of the chemical literature. A good comparison of how scientists and technologists differ in their use of information is given in "Managing The Flow of Technology" by Thomas Allen (2). Direct your coverage to the research chemist; then you can let the other technical staff members know if certain sessions would not be as usable for them. As far as experience with the literature goes, a t one end of the spectrum of users is the PhD chemist who graduated in the early 1950's and still feels most comfortable with the literature of that era. He is not interested in learning CA's new nomenclature and is leery of any computer-connected methods. However, he knows his suhiect area well, knowi how industrial research functions ani is quite conversant with in-
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Number 12 December 1982
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ternal information sources and specialty reports. At the other end of the spectrum is the recent graduate who is familiar with on-line searching (possibly has run a search himself) and does not the new nomenclature. However, he does not . -. . ouestion ~'~~~~~ know his way around the company library and is not aware of the wealth of information available to him within the company, such as internal reports or trade brochures and patents. (Some of this information may not be kept in the lihrary or even under the domain of the library. But, since we are in the information business, i t is only fair to point out to users that i t exists.) ~
Finding What Is Available and Modifying It There was a period of relative neglect and disinterest in chemical literature courses. However, necessity has forced a revival of interest. The unaided chemist is overwhelmed nowadays when he confronts the mass and types of information sources available. Only two of the references found during a literature search were relevant to the industrial situation. The time to generate a course from scratch was prohibitive in this case. Since there are various sources commercially available, one with a structure adaptable to our needs was chosen. The then newly-released ACS audio course on "Use of the Chemical Literature" by Dr. Samuel Wilen (3)seemed to be the most adaptable. Of the 9 hours total, we probably use 4%. This course consists of the cassettes, manuals to be followed along with the cassettes, and exercise books problems. T h e manual, which each . ~ - ~ ~of ~ student follows, has lists of resources and examples. Also. a recent article which gives a list of audiovisual materials for teaching chemical literature appeared in the NoOF CHEMICALEDUCATION vember 1980 issue of JOURNAL (4). T h e ACS course is arranged by: ~
Secondary Sources Retrospective searches Reconnaissance reading Primarv Sources Journals, pntenl.. etc. Current Awareness Cmnputrr-bawd sewices Tertiary Sources We skipped most of these since they were more relevant to librarians. T h e following outline describes how we modified the ACS course. 1. First, we gave an explanation of course content and approach. 2. Also, we gave out a User's Guide. Our library has a 4-page guide containing basic information on our library, such as how to order books and patents, how to have searches done, and also it has a coded map of the locations of the major resources. 3. Next, we mentioned and described sources not on tape, e.g., SRI, Chem Systems, CEH, internal research reports. 4. We gave our own discussion instead of the first chapter (This deals with definitions and descriptions of abstracts, indexes, primary, secondary, tertiary sources), and we began the tape with Chemical Abstmcts. (Note, it helps to have a tape player with a counter.) 5. We used only part of the Beilstein explanation from the tape and then gave our own explanation. Our Beilstein was arranged differently on the shelves from that shown in the ACS course. 6. The section on patents on the tape is light (although possibly sufficientfor academia).This was augmented in our discussion of our User's Guide and our internal current awareness nroaram. Also, our patent attorney had a course on patents which thoroughly covered everything hut literature searching and corresponding patent searching. 7. Since our library has an extensive current awareness program this was discussed rather than the tape version. 8. We listened to only the beginning of the on-line searching. It would be expecting too much of any commercially available course to keep up with what is happening in on-line searching. We used just
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Journal of Chemical Education
enough of the tape to contrast the ever-changing nature of this area. 9. It helped to mark (with red arrow) sources mentioned in the manual which are in the lihrary. (As a by-product of the course we discovered gaps in our collection, brought to our attention by an interest in some of the sources listed in themanual that werenot in our library.) A little more detail on our own presentation of on-line searching follows: Handout and Discussion of 1. Data bases of high interest to us and corresponding vendors, 2. Example of corresponding patents search, 3. Example of subject search, 4. Example of SDI search, and 5. Example of RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances) search. We do this to show how non-bibliographic data can be obtained on-line. Demonstration at Terminal Our on-line presentation is intended to show the chemists what can be done. We do not expect them to be able to do their own searches.
Logistics T h e basic idea in my situation was to get all the present technical staff to a certain level of familiarity with the library and then to train new employees as they are added to the staff. The constraints were that the course was not mandatorv, should start after the chemists had time to get experiments going each day, but it should be in the morning when they would be most alert. (Also, everyone from a section could not attend a t the same time.) We decided that 3 two-hour sessions within a week's time would be best. The class size was set at 20, which was more than the library could comfortably hold, so our new conference room was used. Each chemist was contacted, the class was explained, and the chemist verified that he or she could make that time. Follow-up letters were sent, and people who then could not make it let us know. Since the structure was repeated, make-ups were possible for missed sessions. Some General Hints: 1. Foremost, have the hacking of management. Also try to schedule ss many management people in the first session as passible. This tactic will eive more sunnort for the course all the was through. However, this tactic will ~"imorepressure on you since your course may not be as polished the first time through as at later sessions. But remember, this isexposurefor your library, achance todo areal, positive selling job. 2. Break up the cassettes, possibly have a speaker from your lihrary duringsome of the breaks. Weskipped most reviews and tried to intersperse our own comments where appropriate. 3. Have a pleasant atmosphere. Serve refreshments if possible. 4. Make this a change of ace from the normal daily routine. Make it seem a orivileee. 5 K& the &uo informal. Mia staff oeoole from different areas. Orculate durinr breaks. Kerp a srnse of humor. This rourae rrquirrs a hit different approach than a formal x r h d situatim. 6. Be alert to picking up information from questions during class and comments during breaks. 7. Contact each attendee personally (may not he feasible in a large company). You can put up posters or send out flyers, or advertise any way that you wish. 8. Do not schedule when anv other imoortant event is olanned. (However,since newer employees do not get much vacation tme, it is possible to have a full class then.) 9. Do not run overtime. 10. Consider a preliminary questionnaire. (Table 1) 11. Solicit feedback, Have aquestionnaire. (Table 2) (Our course was continuously modified from this). ~
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Follow-Up The questionnaires were very helpful. (Table 2) These were handed out at the end of the course. Keep this simple and
Table 2. Ouestlonnalre Library Users' Course
Table 1. Course in the UK 01 the Chemical Literature Preliminary Oues+ionnaire I. Did your university give instruction in the use of the chemical literalure? If so. was it given by: Library staftinformal Library staff-course Chemistry professor Mher Anv comments? I Smce y a r emp oyment at Texaco Chem cal Company, m vhat areas have YOU fo~nd the neea for more ~nsnuclmnor lor more help lram the I brary7 Chemical Abstracts Patents Internal reports Data sources Current journals HOW to search the literature Obtaining reprints, etc. Other Ill. Are you familiar with on-line searching of the literature? (Retrieval from computer-stored bibliographic data bases, such as ChemicaIAbsfracfs?) TO what extent? IV. Level of education? B a c h e l U a s t e U h D V. Additional comments/suggestions
allow the chemists t o be anonymous. Send a report on t h e results (sessions given, number completed, e t ~ . to ) the management that initiated or approved the course. Give plans for the future if it is to he a n ongoing type of thing. Your course should not he an isolated incident; assume i t will be a n ongoing event for new employees. Suggestions for Academic Courses This topic fits into t h e larger ongoing concern of whether academia is nreoarine students for what thev will need t o know in indust&. i he focus of t h e Dreyfus cbnference was on this: ACS has set u n meetines on t h e suhiect. As a n academic special librarian, you will need t o find o u t first for yourself what is going on in industry before you can effectively teach it. One approach would he to visit industrial libraries, evaluate how thev differ from vours, and each other. For instance, some indistries want their chemists to browse in t h e library; other companies prefer that literature chemists do the searching for the iest.arcil chemist. In the latter situation, the chemist must learn to interface with the librarian. I f a visit to industry is not possible, an in-depth discussion of what could be found in a n industrial library is given in a n article by Skolnik (5). A discussion of research information a t ICI United States is given by Benson in the same issue (6). Several hooks have been issued recently t h a t would b e worthwhile reading for academic librarians and their students. "Industrial Organic Chemicals in Perspective" by Witcoff and Reuben (7) or "Principles of Industrial Chemistry" by Clausen (8)are two. T o keep u p with trends routinely scan Chemical & E n gineering News and Chemical Week. Now, where is it necessary to supplement the new chemist's education? W e handed o u t a preliminary questionnaire (Table 2) the last time we gave the course. These results are not statistically valid b u t d o give an indication of interests. For question 2, the need for more help was mentioned most often for patents, internal reports, data sources and obtaining reprints, etc. Suggested additional topics for academic courses are 1. Patents. One-half of the chemical information is contained in patents. Often this is the f i s t place information is published (9).The forward to Polymer Reuiews, Vol. 10, says "While the searching of patents is not as easy or satisfying as the examination of a well-arranged article, to brush aside this great body of material is to overlook an impressive amount of technology, the publication of which actually
Was there adequate coverage of the subject? AdequateToo ionToo s h o r t Should be mwe coverage on: What other sources do you feel should be covered in this course? Were lhe explanations on the tape dear? Any section not necessary?
precedes many industrial advances and any eventual publication in the journals" (10). An industrial chemist needs to he aware of what is in the prior patent art as much as a PhD candidate needs to keep up with Dissertation Abstracts. Both foreign and U.S. patents should be covered. Searches can he set up for prior art in patents. The hook "Understanding Chemical Patents" by Maynard is good (11). 2. Specialty Reports. Specialty reports are those reports usually hought hy industry and usually affordable only in industry. A series of reports covering ewnomici, background, patent situation 181 mwit of the major chemicals is put out hy Stmford Research lnctitutr. Aiter first checking in an mcschmrdiasuchas Kirk-0thmer.achcmist or engineer should look here &get oriented to a new chemical process. SRI also issues quarterly reports and publishes "Chemical Economics Handhook."This publication tends more to marketingand production data, although it contains some more extensive reports on chemical processes. Chem Systems also issues similar reports and quarterly shorter reports. Other companies such as A.D. Little and Catalytica issue reports on special subjects. These tend to be expensive and have stringent rules on subscription, but students should know that they exist and be aware to look for them on the job. 3. Internalfiblicotions. Hesearch (knerated. These can be research generated such as reports, files, data xuurces. lab notebooks. r'l'hrst. may or may nut be kept in the 1thrary.j Students usually are na,t aware of theamuunt uf internal documentation that accompanies industrial research. A quite common request to the librarian from a new employee is "My bass said we worked on this before. How do I find out what we did?" Quite often the only physical data for manufacturing a company's own product is in its own files. It would he fruitless to search the oublished literature. llere also in the internal puhlicatiax, negative r~sulUwdl he reported. There is probably a higher invidenrp of this nPgntwe results reportmg in internal reports than in published literalure. A new employee would be wise to acquaint himself with the internal research reports (especiallywhat his boss and co-workers have done). This is the only way to zet an approximation of experience with the com~~.. paw. Library Generated. Also, the company may have library generated publications. For example, we publish a bulletin of new books and other acquisitions. We have a series of alerting bulletins. One of these is based on Official Gazette, a publication which contains abstracts of newly-issued US. patents. We scan this as soon as it issues and circulate the abstracts pertinent to our research needs. Our current awareness publications will get information to the chemists 2-6 months ahead of its amearance in Chemical Abstracts. This service is essentiallv a como&v-wide SDI . . 4. ~ m d r ~ l ' u b 1 ~ ~ ~ oAn r ~amazing ~ ~ n . s . amount ot infhmthm is in Irmpnn? brochures and cataloraand many industries haw extemive cnllrrricms ~ - ~ -of .-rhcce. .~~ .~~.-~. 5. Environmental and Safety Informtion. There is a discrepancy between requirements of OSHA and EPA and what students are familiar with in academic laboratories. The same goes for awareness of toxicity of various chemicals. One thing we stress with new chemists is that if they have any questions about toxicity or safety, cheek with us (and the safety department). We will look it up or run an on-line toxicity search. 6. Proliferating Data Bases. An extensive number of data bases are available and can be searched nowadays, including many nonbibliographic data bases. For example, it is very poasihle that the new chemist will get on the job and do his own searching of the mass spectra data base. Or he may try to subscribe on his own, not realizing the library may have access. 7. Time and Profit Constraints. These are "real world" considerations and have been implicit in the preceding topics. Students need Volume 59
Number 1 2 December 1982
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to become acquainted with the profit orientation of industries since this affects the nature of industrial research. Most students are used to working under time deadlines; adding the profit-making constraint gives an immediacy to a search that can be quite stressful. The industrial librarian appreciates graduates who can plan their search and avoid emergency last-minute requests. In addition to what their courses also cover, this probably seems overwhelming to the academic literature instructor. Remember that this is what the industrial librarian sees. These are areas where we fmd our chemical researchers deficient, and we try to remedy these deficiencies as soon as possible. If today's students can he made aware of of these' then they can become efficient and productive just employees sooner, which is to everyone's benefit.
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Journal of Chemical Education
LlteratLIre Cited Davies,Gwlfr ey,il Chem,Edue,,56(8), 9,9), (2) A I ~ ~. h ~ ~ ~ .the.FIW . o, f ~~e c ~h n o~ l o~g ~~.P-', . i~ ~1977. ~~ ~ (3) wile". ssmuel ofthcChemicalLiterature: An Introduction toChemica1 Information Retneual."ACS Audio Course. Ameriran Chemical Society. Washington, DC. 1978. (4) Douville, ~ u d i t hand Schlessingcr. Bernard, J. Chom. Educ.. 51 (111,796797 (No"ember 1980). (a Skolnik, Herman, J . Chem. Doc., 14 (31.123-127 (August 19741. (6) Benmn, Frederie R., J. Chem. Doe.. 14 (31,120-123. (August 19741. (7) Witlmff. Harold A. and Reuben. Bryan G.,'"Industrial Organic Chemicals in Peramdive. part one: ~ s ~ws t e n a and ~ a ~ s n u f s e t u mWiley. . 1980. (8) Clausen, chrisA..'~Principl~a oilndustriai Chemistry," Wiley. 1978. (9) Schwartz, JamesH., J.CHEM. EDUC.,53 (11, (Jnnuary 19761 57 (Januaw197fil. (101 Morgan,P~ulW.."PolymerReuiews:Condensatiun Pulymols,"Interacienee. 1965. (11) mynard. ~ o h T.. n "understanding chemical ~ a t e n r r~, m ~ e r i c a nChemical Society, Washington, DC, 1978.
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