Introducing On-line Information Retrieval Systems to the Undergraduate and Graduate Student in Chemistry On-line information retrieval centers are rapidly becoming an important part of academic libraries. The key role that such centers play in major industrial, governmental, and medical libraries insures that chemists need t o he introduced t o computerized bibliographic retrieval early in their careers. Five years ago, the authors designed and implemented a one quarter interdisciplinary course in Science Information retrieval to fill this need. The course meets in the late afternoon twice a week. This time period was chosen so that members of the Cincinnati scientific community would be able to participate as well as regularly enrolled students. Since hands-on experience is a n essential aspect of the course, i t was also necessary t o choose a time when there is relatively low volume of terminal traffic. There are five major components of the goal for the course: 1) Analysis of eomputer-searchable data bases with respect t o content and coverage. Approximately ten data bases are presently discussed intensively, depending on the interests of the students, but Chemical Abstracts, in its evolving forms, MEDLINE, and TOXLINE are always included. The student must acquire a working knowledge of the subfiles of TOXLINE and TOXBACK', the MeSH headings far MEDLINE and backfiles!, sourcesfor CAS Registry Numbers, hothon-and affline3, and the section numbers and headings employed by Chemical A b ~ t r o c t s . ~ 2) Design of strategies for on-line searching, Boolean operators, print options, and methods of expanding or limiting a search are discussed. 3) On-line experience in retrieving information for a search planned by the student. During the first week of the course, students are required to choose research topics, then as the course progresses, they select appropriate data bases and design search strategies. After the strategy is approved by the instructor, the student works out necessary modifications a t the terminal. 4) Evaluation of the on-line seareh by manual searching. When the off-line print-outs are received, the student applies conventional searching techniques t o verify, and often extend, the retrieval. This exercise also provides an opportunity to become familiar with hard copy data bases and indexes, as well as the card catalog. 5 ) Incorporation of the information retrieved through these searches in a written report. The students are introduced to primary journals and their skills in abstracting, outlining, report writing, and citing references are reinforced. The last class session consists of an informal poster session during which searches and reports are discussed and compared. On-line training suitable for the course instructor has been described el~ewhere.~ The course may provide opportunities for team teaching by instructors who have specialized in on-line searching of many different data bases. Certain suppliers now offer special training access to data bases, and by means of this deeply appreciated service, on-line time can be extended while course casts are minimized. Student intererr and partiripntron in thizcourse has been nrrornpanird by in~rraredutdizntiun of otl-linesrr\,icrl hy faculty rncmherr.\Vr wi-h tu aiknowledg~w ~ r hthanks initial g r a m frum'l'he Research (:rmml.The Educatiun Cwncd w > Rpaenrch, I'niversitv ul ('incmnnt~. and The Offme of T h r I )mn fur (hadunce E d ~ ~ r o t i and This paper was presented in part a t the 11th Central Regional Meeting, American Chemical Society, Columbus, Ohio, Mav 7-9.1979. I ~ N L MOn-line Service Reference Manual. January, 1980." National Library of Medicine, Rockville, Maryland, 1979, Part 12, TOXLINEITOXBACK. 2"Medical Subject Headings, Annotated Alphabetic List, 1980," National Library of Medicine, Rockville, Maryland, 197% .-.-.
'On-Line: "Fi1.M Omline S~nwesRrference Manual. .lnnunw, 1980." Natimnl Library of Medicine, Rorkville, Maryland, 1979. Pan 13, CHKMLINE; "Guide LO L)IAI.OG S~arrhin(r,''Lockheed Intormation Sysrerns. Pnlc, Alto. Califurnla, 1979. Sycrem 1)~velopment(:qmrnt~on.Santa l o n i ~ aCalifwnln. . File 121. CHEI\IU.AhlK;" ORBIT ()uk k - R e f ~ r m rGuidr," e 1978. (:HE.\lDEY. o f f - ~ i i n"Chemical e Abstracts Formula Index," Chemical Abstracts Service of the American Chemical Society, Columbus, Ohio; "Chemical Abstracts Substance Index," Chemical Abstracts Service of the American Chemical Society, Cdumbus, Ohio; "Chemical Abstracts Index Guide," Chemical Abstracts Service of the American Chemical Society, Columbus, Ohio. 4"Chemieal Abstracts," Chemical Abstracts Service of the American Chemical Society, Columbus, Ohio. 5Bourne, C. P. and Robinson, J., J.Am. Soc. Information Sci., 31,25 (1980).
University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH 45221
Geraldine L. Krueger Department o f E n v i r o n m e n t ~ 1Health Dorice DesChene Chemistry-Biology Library
Volume 57, Number 6, June 1980 / 457
