Creation of an Instructional Module Highlighting Free
Chemical Information Resources
Susan K. Cardinal, University of RochesterCarrie Newsom, University of Florida
ACS Meeting: March 26, 2007
CINF Education Committee
ObjectiveProvide educational outreach to chemical
information users, of all degrees of experience, in all venues
• 8 academic librarians with consultants• Meet at each ACS National meetings
For history: “50 Years of Chemical Information in the American Chemical Society 1943-1993” by W. V. Metanomski
The Need for Modular Instruction
• Low workshop attendance• “How Chemical Information is being taught”
survey results* • Target audience not at national meetings• Internet as communication tool• Constant turnover of volunteers
*For “How Chemical Information is being taught” see Chemical Information Instruction, 1984-2004: Who is Leading the Charge? by Jeremy Garritano and Bartow Culp. Poster for 2005 SLA meeting
Module Topics
• Education Committee members and consultants suggested ~60 topics
• After prioritizing, the top 5 topics were:– Overview of the Chemical Literature– Affordable Resources– Finding Physical Properties– Teaching Chemical Information– SciFinder Scholar
Vision for Affordable Resources Module
• Purpose– This module will highlight free resources
that may be used to teach aspects of chemical information literacy in accordance with the chemical information literacy guidelines
• Audience– Librarians and Chemistry Faculty who
teach Chemical Information
Survey of Small College Chemical Information Instructors
• What support do small college librarians and chemistry faculty need?
• 12 questions• Used Survey Monkey• Distributed to Chminf-L, SLA DCHE.
NYSciLibs, word of mouth
Survey Results
• 31 Responses, some faculty, mostly librarians
• Most respondents teach chemical information.– Knowledge– Resources– Skills– Databases
Percentage of respondents who teach chemical
information
94%
6%
YesNo
61% have chemical information topics that they don’t teach because of lack of knowledge or resources.
Want to know more about:• expensive tools, • new online tools, • advanced searching techniques,• structure and substructure searching,• and much more
Most useful topics to include
1.68
2.10
2.26
2.29
2.58
2.81
2.87
2.87
2.97
3
3.17
3.19
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50
Biographical information
Patents
Scientific communication
Safety
Background materials
Synthesis data
Finding journals
Spectra
Structure searching
Unique nature of the chemical lite rature
Ide ntifying articles
Property data
Average response (0 = not useful; 4 = most useful)
Inspiration for topics from "Ideal Chemical Information Curriculum" by Carol Carr and Arleen Somerville at the National Chemical Information Symposium, June 1994, University of Vermont
Topics for us to consider
• Resources for Environmental Science, Physical Science, Biochemistry, Biomedical
• Tested problems for students• Chemical pricing• Encouraging students to use tutorials & help• Database comparison• Finding jobs, grants and funding• Rational for finding patents• Evaluation of information• Citation style
Preferred Module Formats
0
5
10
15
20
25
Pow
erpo
int
slid
es
Pod
cast
Scr
eenc
ast
Wor
dD
ocum
ent
Web
site
Oth
er
Num
ber
of r
espo
nden
ts
How respondents plan to use the module
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
in classdemonstrations
hands onexercises foryour students
self education(yourself)
self education(your students)
all the above
Num
ber o
f res
pond
ents
Progress on Module
• Started with Sources for Finding Physical Properties
• PowerPoint slides and HTML• Post to the CINF Education Committee
website
Evaluating Property Resources
• Where does the data come from? Authority? Accuracy?
• Contains– how many compounds?– how many types of properties? – properties that undergraduates need? Boiling point,
melting point, density, bond angle, etc.– valuable references?
• Ease of use/ setup?• Cost?• Accessibility?
First Piece of Module Available
• URL: http://www.acscinf.org/html/educ.html
Plans for Module
• Feedback from collaborators• Survey chemistry professors• Develop next segments• Enhance with sound (podcast) and
video (screencast) files?• Each module segment will take a short
time to for user to complete.• Periodic updates
Google Groups and Docs
Collaborators
• 18 volunteers including Robert Landolt• Encouraged to contact
– CUR, – 2YC3, – SOCED, – J Chem Ed, – CPT
Acknowledgements
Co-author Carrie NewsomEd Committee MembersJudith CurranoGrace BaysingerJeremy GarritanoMeghan LaffertySong YuBruce Slutsky
For encouragementBob LandoltAdrienne KozlowskiArleen Somerville
For supportUniversity of RochesterUniversity of Florida
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