Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques

— August 1998 —

Barriers to Teaching Information and Possible Fixes

• No room in curriculum for separate course
  • Integration into courses
  • Short courses
  • Workshops
• Faculty lack time (to develop teaching program, stay up-to-date, etc.); may be unaware of all information resources on site or beyond
  • Assign responsibility for teaching or coordination of information instruction — a faculty member/team; faculty/librarian team; or a librarian.
    • Then, they can work with other faculty to demonstrate how such instruction can be incorporated into the curriculum with positive teaching results.
  • Faculty who support and actively incorporate information instruction into their courses need to more actively influence their colleagues and librarians.
    • Opportunities to meet with colleagues with successful programs can provide the extra incentive and implementation ideas needed to influence others' instruction.
  • Active outreach by librarians to discuss educational benefits of information instruction and to inform about information sources available.
    • Faculty can also seek out librarians to work with for information instruction.
  • Faculty can subscribe to the Chemical Information Listserv. A digest version is available.
  • Because access to information sources changes rapidly, information professionals, vendors, and database producers need to provide effective teaching materials at reasonable cost, publicize their availability, and make them readily available.
  • Organizations such as the ACS Divisions of Chemical Information and Chemical Education can aid faculty in staying up-to-date by holding workshops at national, regional, and local ACS meetings; faculty can then take advantage of these.
  • Identify guest lecturers beyond own school:
    • chemical information specialists from other schools, nearby industries
    • information consultants
    • vendor and publisher representatives
  • Have CPT enforce the information guidelines.
• Lack funds
  • Control cost of online computer searching:
    • searches approved by instructor/librarian
    • instructor/librarian present during search
    • use Dialog coupons via Classroom Instruction Program
    • limit to specific assignment
    • use software which identifies searcher
  • Use sample issues for demos
  • Acquire test/sample CDs, etc. for demos
• Lack major information resources on site
  • Use inexpensive versions of databases:
    • Learning/training files provided by Dialog and STN
  • Draw on resources available at nearby schools and other organizations, if possible.
  • Purchase one or two volumes of major treatises such as Gmelin and Beilstein that cover topics of interest to the course professors and make all assignments on that material. Tell students where the complete work would be available.
  • Strive to gain access to most important sources, if not all that are optimal.
  • Monitor expansion of sources on Internet.
• Lack curricular materials and practice questions
  • Use resources noted in this Workshop.

Grace Baysinger, Head Librarian and Bibliographer
Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library, Stanford University Libraries
graceb@stanford.edu