Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques

— June 1997 —

Major Internet Resources

CICOURSE. Chemical Information Course. From Gary Wiggins, Indiana University Chemistry Library.: Available via the WWW at: http://www.indiana.edu/~cheminfo/courses/471home.html
CIStudio — a Chemical Information Course. Professor Joseph Warden and Librarian Collette Holmes, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.: Available via WWW at: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem/cheminfo/cistudio/index.html

Chemical Information Sources from Indiana University.: CIS-IU Lists sources for the entire spectrum of chemical information questions. For example, subject searching, author-corporate name searching, patents, chemical name and formula, structure searching, property information, synthesis and reaction information, safety and toxicology, current awareness searching, background reading, etc. WWW URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~cheminfo/
Chemical Abstracts databases.: Teaching manuals for CA bibliographic searching and dictionary searching of the Registry File are available from CAS Home Page. Structure searching of Registry File manual is in progress. Provide step-by-step guidance for learner and instructor. WWW URL: http://www.cas.org/

“Some Chemistry Resources on the Internet”: Compiled by Gary Wiggins, with WWW version provided by Joseph Warden, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Most comprehensive list of chemistry resources. Excellent source for staying current on new information teaching resources, both print and electronic. WWW URL: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem/cheminfo/chemres.html
Northern Illinois University (Hackberry) chemistry web site.: WWW URL: http://hackberry.chem.niu.edu/
WWW Virtual Library: Chemistry: WWW URL: http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/Links/links.html
Yahoo: Chemistry: WWW URL: http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Chemistry/
Univ. of Regensburg:: Access to major chemistry resources, with “built-in” access to search engines. WWW URL: http://www.chemie.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaet_Chemie/deutsch/links/index.html

Most organizations that provide chemical information have Home Pages:

database producers (e.g., Beilstein, Chemical Abstracts Service, Institute of Scientific Information, Springer-Verlag)
publishers (e.g., American Chemical Society, Elsevier, Springer-Verlag)
computer systems (e.g., Dialog, STN International, MDL Ltd.)
professional organizations (e.g., American Chemical Society, American Institute of Physics, Institute of Physics)
Federal and state agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation)
academic institutions — for institution, academic departments and other units such as libraries and research groups within departments.
commercial organizations (e.g., General Electric Co., Fisher Chemical Co., Silicon Graphics, Merck) Addresses for these Home Pages can be found in Gary Wiggins list (1st source on this list) and the other major Internet sources, or via a search of an index — i.e., Search Engine, noted below.)

In Netscape:

Yahoo serves as a “Directory” for Internet resources. Click on NetDirectory in Netscape on top menu to reach the general Yahoo directory.
The number and sophistication of indexes (called Search Engines) of WWW resources is growing constantly. Alta Vista, Open Text, Lycos are 3 Search Engines. Click on NetSearch in Netscape.

The Internet; A Guide for Chemists. Stephen Bachrach, ed. ACS, Washington, DC, 1996.
“Touring the Internet” — column in ChemTech.
“Internet Snapshots: A brief tour of some of the more interesting places to go for chemically-related information.” Lynn Willis, ChemTech, p.8–11 (Feb. 1995).
“Chemistry Sites Proliferate on the Internet’s World Wide Web”, Chem. Eng. News, v.73, no. 46, p.35–44, 46 (Nov. 13, 1995).
“Chemical Applications of the World-Wide-Web System”, Henry S. Rzepa, Benjamin J. Whitaker, and Mark J. Winter. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Comm., p.1907–10 (1994).