The Librarv vs. the Laboratory as a Sasis for Research' R E T l T JOY COLE American Cyanamid Company, Bonnd Brook, N e w J e r s ~ y
H
OW can a library play a part in research? How When a research man-we &all assume this particucan a collection of books and periodicals be of any lar one is a chemist-gets an idea for what he believes assistance in putting into production some substance may be a new compound, he is not likely to take several which, perhaps, has never been made before? Organi- bottles and start pouring a little of this and some of that zations with a well-established library and a research into a beaker with the expectation of seeing the new proddivision which have been functioning over a period of uct appear by magic in the desiredform. The first signs years know full well the advantages of close cooperation of his idea, after it has passed the embryonic stage, between laboratory and library. Manufacturing com- appear on pieces of paper as strange formulas, plus panies are becoming more aware of the value of research signs, arrows, and lines linking atoms or groups of atoms and many companies, even those in business for a period together. The new substance thus having made its of years, areuow realizing the need ofhaving information first appearance on paper, it is logical that more paper readily available so that new industrial libraries, which a work should follow. At this point, the library definitely short time ago were frowned upon as unnecessary luxu- enters into the research program. ries, are being organized today. Before taking the problem into the laborzttory, it is The value of a company library should not be judged important for the chemist to know whether the comso much by the number of items it contains as by the pound he hopes to produce has ever been prepared. information to be found and the pertinence of that in- If not that particular substance, perhaps something formation to the company's demands. A large collec- similar to it has been worked on. The only way in tion of material acquired with no thought of the organi- which this can be learned is by a search of the literature. zation's needs is of as little, or less, value than no li- Indexes to the literatureand there are none better brary. In building up a collection, the interests of the than those of Chemical Abstrutsshould be searched company must always be the prime factor in making for all possible leads; books should he reviewed; curdecisions of whether to buy or not to buy. The library rent periodicals should be scanned; and patents should must be ready and capable of expansion with the growth be studied not so much with the thought of determining of the company. As new fields of interest are developed the patentability of the new product as for finding out by the concern, material in those fields must appear on methods of preparation. The use of patents for finding the library shelves. The library should not be re- out whether or not a compound is patentable was ably stricted in its growth any more than a research division discussed by Mr. A. G. Connolly in his paper given a t is held to certain limitations. The moment the library the September, 1943, meeting of this Divisi~n.~In a is curtailed in its buying powers, its freedom to forge literatnre search patents are considered solely as a ahead, it begins to lose its value. To keep pace with valuable source of information. They should be the company program, the library must be free to de- studied thoroughly for disclosures of methods of prepavelop along the limes indicated by the new interests of ration, materials used, and products obtained which the organization. Otherwise, there is merely a collec- may not be found elsewhere in the field of chemical tion which was good in its time but now only takes up literatnre. The more material the library can furnish, space which could be better utilized. It is only through the more thorough and complete the search will be. growth, flexibility, and relevancy of material that the This does not mean that all the material wanted is in library can take its rightful place in the organization the company library but it does mean that the librarian and operate for the best interests of the company. should obtain for the chemist, if it is a t all possible, Such a library, working with every division in the or- whatever information is needed. By making a study ganization, answering to the best of its ability every of the literature, the research worker can avoid unnecdemand made of it, realizing its place in and relation essary duplication of work; he can profit by mistakes to the work of the company, and functioning as an in- previously made, and avoid pitfalls of which he may tegral part of the organization is an asset. We shall not have been aware. Reports of negative results can discuss here only one phase of library work, only one be as important as those of positive results in a search way of many, in which the library serves the interests of this kind. Negative reports will show the chemist what he shonld not do, thus saving him valuable time of the company. when he starts to cany out his idea in the laboratory. Presented before the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, 107th meeting. Cleveland, Ohio. April 4, 1944.
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'See J.
&EM.
Emrc., 20, 531 (1943).
"But," objects the man who would rather be in the laboratory, "I can't sit in the library, I must be working. All this reading is too time-consuming." Granted, but so are hit-and-miss methods of working time-consuming, and the cost of materials used in such methods can catapult into high figures. If he does read and profit by what he finds in the literature, the chemist is more likely to keep within the limits of the budget which has been set up for his work. In addition to finding out all he can about the compound and possible methods for preparing it, there are other aspects of the problem which the research man should consider. These constitute the economic side of the picture. Will the work be a piece of pure research resulting in a product that is merely a laboratory curiosity or will the work produce a compound which has commercial possibilities? If the former, the ohtaining, labeling, and storing of the product finishes the problem-at least until such time as someone else who has another idea comes along and takes up where the first worker stopped. We shall assume, however, that there is the possibility of commercial development and usage for the new product. This means additional library work, hut from an entirely d i e r e n t viewpoint than the literature search which has been completed. What are the items to be considered now, and where are the answers to be found? First of all, what raw materials will he needed to manufacture the product? The chemist already knows the answer to that so we will go on to the next question which is, what do they cost? The library will have a number of trade papers which give current market quotations and from these the chemist can figure the cost of the required materials. In these days of priorities and Government limitations, it is important to know which materials are readily available, which hard to get, and which are unobtainable. It may well be that the chemist will have to find some substitutes for the materials he originally planned to use, either because of their unavailability or because their cost is too high to permit economical manufacture. He will want to utilize substances having properties similar to those of the compounds which were his first choice. Here again the literature will give the chemist the information he needs. Having found such substitutes as he needs by making use of the facilities offered by the library, there is another point regarding the materials required that the chemist should consider. This concerns their toxic p o ~ e r t i e s . If he does not know, he will probably find the answer in the books on industrial poisons which are in the library. Again the chemist may find need for further substitution because of the highly toxic properties of a material he planned to use. This will require a further search for a compound to take the place of the toxic substance. Or he may find that by taking certain precautions in handlmg the material i t can be rendered less harmful. What about the final product? Will it, under the conditions of its ultimate use, produce toxic reactions in the consumer? Since it is a new
product the answer will not be found in the literature, but by knowing the properties of the raw niaterials used, how they are changed during the reactions, which ones, such as solvents, are entirely removed from the hished product, the chemist should have some idea as to the toxic potentialities of the substance. There is no economy in manufacturing a product which will have to be withdrawn from the market almost as soon as it makes its appearance. It will be well for the chemist to know other prodnction problems which may he involved. Will specially built equipment be needed? Are the materials to be used highly corrosive? Will certain of the substances or mixtures of them be inflammable? He should know the answers to these questions and others before the substance goes into the plant for large-scale production. There will be enough unexpected quirks arising out of the manufacture to he dealt with. later. This is a further reason why the research worker should make the fullest use of the library. The answers to such problems as mentioned are to be found in current trade journals, in Government publications, in reference books, in books dealing with specialized subjects, and in the runs of bound periodicals which form a large part of the library's collection. How quickly the answers will be found will depend partly upon the material the library has a t hand, partly upon the speed with which information can be obtained from outside sources, and partly upon the understanding the librarian has of the problem. To conserve time, to be sure all angles are covered, to obtain the help of someone whose interest lies in putting before him all material which might have a bearing on the problem, the chemist should enlist the aid of the librarian. She is not laboratory trained nor laboratory minded; she does not talk; the chemist. need have no fear that she is going to exploit his idea The librarian, however, has a scientific background. She knows the terminology' and phraseology of the scientific language. She can understand what the scientist says; he need not feel that his words are falling on deaf ears. For these reasons, he should not hesitate to discuss his problem with her. He is a specialist; he knows his field; be knows exactly what he wants to do and how i t can be done. The librarian, too, is a specialist; her field is that of the technical literature; her knowledge will supplement that of the chemist. The more freely be discusses his problem with her, the better understanding she has of what he hopes to do, the greater the value of the help she will be able to give. In her work she is scanning constantly the literature in whatever form it may be--company reports, pamphlets, patents, journals, or books-that comes to the library. Through this, she will be aware of work done in a diierent field wbich the chemist did not know existed that may prove of real value to the problem under consideration. She can make suggestions as to where certain types of information may be found. She may be able to show him short cuts wbich will save him considerable time. If the librarian has been fore-
warned of the problem, she can have ready an annotated bibliography from which the chemist can select the articles most pertinent to his problem for thorough reading and those of less importance for a quick scanning. She can have ready for his use articles, patents, and other material that will serve as a starting point for the search which is to be made. She will know from what sources information that is needed but is not in the company library can be pbtained. The librarian's task is to supply information and she takes as much pride in doing her work well as the chemist does in seeing his problem carried through to its conclusion. If she knows nothing of the work in hand and is trying to furnish information on rather vague demand, she can only fumble and may put before the chemist more useless than useful material. Hit-and-miss methods have no more place in the library than they do in the laboratory. The more the librarian knows of the problem, the better able she is to be of real assistance.
There should be, and, in organizations that have tried and know its value there is, close cooperation between the laboratory and the library. It is acknowledged that such searching consumes time. It may require anywhere from a few days to months depending upon how much pertinent material is found, bow thoroughly the search is done, what new questions may arise in the course of the search, and whether the specialist does it entirely alone or calls on the library staff for aid. But if we balance the cost of the library search against trial and error methods, waste of expensive materials, accidents due to handling toxic substances, excessive manufacturing costssome, or all, of which might have been avoided-the balance will generally be in favor of the library. Reduced to dollars and cents with the totals balanced against each other even the least library-minded person must realize that the library is the logical place to start a piece of laboratory research work.
