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The Catalyst: The Swain Library Newsletter
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Archive
February 1998
Contents
- How to Find out if a Compound is Available Commercially
- Databases Now Available Via the Web
- ACS Web Journals – May Be Coming Soon
- CWeb Resources for Finding Laboratory Equipment
- Biosequence and Polymer Workshops Coming March 13th
- ChemDraw/Chem 3-D/ChemFinder Manuals Available for Free
- Things to Read While Taking a Break in Swain
- Partial Citations Driving You Crazy?
How to Find out if a Compound is Available Commercially
There's no one place or method to determine if a compound is
available commercially. Here's several search options to see
if you can purchase a compound.
- ChemSources USA and ChemSources International are two
directories on reserve at the Swain Library. They
contain an alphabetical listing of compounds available
for sale plus information for contacting companies.
- Chemcyclopedia 98 (http://pubs3.acs.org:8899/chemcy98/) and
ChemConnect (http://www.chemconnect.com/home.htm#MENU) are
two web resources that contain chemical supplier information.
- Beilstein Crossfire record for a compound includes supplier
information for about six major chemical companies. Include
XFREF in the Field Name value field of a Fact search along
with terms to find your compound (e.g. CAS Registry Number,
Chemical Name, or structure). Leave the Field Values box
blank when doing the search. (Caveat: although most values
in the XREF field are for supplier names, there are also
a few reference books such as the CRC Handbook so you may
get some “noise” in your search results.)
- If CAS Online's Registry File contains the values CSCHEM or
CHEMCATS in the LC field, then your compound is available
commercially. CSCHEM is the online version of Chem Sources
USA and ChemSources International. Access to the CSCHEM and
CHEMCATS files is limited to an STN account used by the
librarian.
Contact Grace Baysinger
(graceb@stanford.edu,
5-1039) for help or to request a search.
Databases Now Available Via the Web
Several databases of potential interest are searchable via the web.
They include:
- Applied Science and Technology Index
- Biotechnology Abstracts
- Dissertation Abstracts
- World Catalog
Go to
http://library.stanford.edu/catdb/
and choose “Science and Engineering” to search the first three files above
and “General” to search World Catalog, a library catalog that contains
thousands of member libraries.
ACS Web Journals – May Be Coming Soon
ACS recently announced “Option B” pricing for institutional
subscribers. The terms of agreement look far more reasonable
than earlier versions of their contract. In terms of pricing,
this new option has reduced the surcharge to 25% but requires
libraries to retain all current print subscriptions, including
duplicate subscriptions. I am working with the Director of
Collections to review the contract language and am assessing
the financial impact on Swain's budget. Stay tuned for more
news.
CWeb Resources for Finding Laboratory Equipment
Here's two resources to help identify sources and company information
for lab equipment. They are:
Thomas Register of Manufacturers (http:www.thomasregister.com/)
sets the standard for manufacturing directories. Swain also has this
title in print in the reference collection (tall green volumes at the
beginning of the reference collection).
LabGuide (http://pubs3.acs.org:8889/lg97/index.html). Produced by the
American Chemical Society, the 43rd edition was published recently.
We also received a copy of this directory in print and have sent it
off to be cataloged.
Biosequence and Polymer Workshops Coming March 13th
Chemical Abstracts Services staff will teach two half-day classes
on March 13th. One class will cover nucleic acid and protein
biosequences and the other one will focus on searching polymers.
Enrollment for both classes is limited to Stanford students,
faculty, and staff.
While not commonly known, Chemical Abstracts Online has one of the
largest collections of sequence information for nucleic acid and
protein sequences. CAS Online also is a excellent source of
information on polymers.
Please contact Grace Baysinger
(graceb@stanford.edu,
5-1039) if you are interested in attending these sessions. Because we are still deciding
which session to hold in the morning and which one will be held in the afternoon, please
indicate your preference as to when you'd like to attend.
ChemDraw/Chem 3-D/ChemFinder Manuals Available for Free
Swain has approximately 30 sets of manuals that we are giving away
on ChemDraw/Chem 3-D/ChemFinder. This deal is limited to one copy
per lab group in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
First-come, first served until they are gone. Request a copy at
Swain's circulation desk or via email to Carol Bickler
(cbickler@stanford).
Things to Read While Taking a Break in Swain
Here's some titles you might want to browse through when taking a
break at Swain.
- Chronicle of Higher Education – weekly newpaper for academic
communities in higher education. Includes academic job postings.
Issues are shelved below the New Books.
- Today's Chemist at Work – published by the American Chemical
Society, contains tips for managing your career and health.
- Chemical Intelligencer – looks at chemistry from a broad
perspective. Includes indepth interviews (e.g. Dr. Djerassi
and Dr. Taube were interviewed in previous issues).
Partial Citations Driving You Crazy?
One “secret weapon” librarians use when people come to
us with partial citations is SciSearch. Assuming users know the first author of
the partial citation, it is possible to find others who have cited
it by browsing the Cited Reference index in SciSearch. While not
foolproof, it is quick way to verify a citation.
Other methods include doing author, keyword, journal name, publication
year searches in files that index that subject area, e.g. CAS Online
for chemistry literature.
Ulrich's Directory of Periodicals includes which abstracts (e.g.
CAS Online) cover a specific journal. Using Ulrich's enables you
to identify which index to search in order to locate missing
information of a citation. Ulrich's is located on the wooden shelf
near Swain's reserve desk.
Grace Baysinger
Head Librarian & Bibliographer, Swain Library of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/index.html
Head, Science and Engineering Libraries Resource Group
