Chemical Librarianship: Challenges and Opportunities

Citation

Satija, M.P. (1999), "Chemical Librarianship: Challenges and Opportunities", Asian Libraries, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 175-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1999.8.5.175.3

Contrary to expectations, this is not a book on sources of literature in chemistry, though in notes and references of various chapters sources of chemical information have been cited. This collection of commissioned chapters dwells on some of the current issues confronting chemistry libraries and provides a well‐researched and argued case for training in user education. Emphasising the value of chemical information literacy, it provides suggestions for user education based on the analysis of contemporary problems.

The content may be divided into four broad areas: (a) user education in chemical information, (b) the impact of information technology on chemistry teaching and communication of information, (c) chemical journal collection building, (d) chemical information services to industry. The first area, the major one, consists of the first seven chapters. These chapters emphasise the role of librarians as educators in partnership with faculty and computer staff. Here are provided tips for designing courses, teaching methods and conducting class sessions. Information‐seeking skills reduce frustration and enhance the value of information. The questions of what to teach and who will teach have been taken up with some detail. Another important question is whether chemical information seeking be taught as a separate course, or whether it should be integrated with the rest of the course. A chapter is fully devoted to a one semester course in teaching chemical information. Chemistry librarians are projected as teachers of chemical information sources and services.

The electronic environment offers opportunities to provide new services, and IT has changed the way we do research and communicate information. Thus three chapters (7‐9) on information technology describe virtual laboratories, virtual seminars and The Electronic Seminar System (TESS). The third section (Chapters 10‐11) is devoted to chemistry serials. Here is given a list of core journals whose continued availability for research is essential. The next chapter portrays US national trends in chemical serial holdings and cancellations from 1992 to 1994 ‐ during this period chemical serials with a greater dollar value than in any other science were cancelled. One solution to the resulting gaps in holding is ownership of core journals and access to other peripheral journals.

The 18 contributors are chemistry librarians and/or educators. Their findings are based on hands‐on experience, experimental research and surveys. Each chapter ends with a clear summary and conclusion. This is a handsome volume with high production standards. It fruitfully discusses the educational role of librarians and the importance of information in an age of highly dynamic research. It suggests new ways of providing information to cope with the increasing prices of journals and their changing formats and sets out specific programmes with enough detail to serve as practical guidelines. This is a book for library educators, reference librarians and library planners.