Out With The Old...

As of December 1, 2011, the Chemistry division has a new website! The new site (and blog) will now be available from http://chemistry.sla.org. Please update your bookmarks and RSS readers accordingly. The old site and blog will no longer be accessible after Dec 31, 2011.

2011 Nominating Committee Report

The DCHE 2011 Nominating Committee (Teri Vogel, Bob Buchanan, Val Tucci) has identified these candidates for the open positions in the SLA Chemistry Division:

For Chair-Elect in 2012 (a three-year term, including Chair in 2013 and Past Chair in 2014)

• Susan Makar from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD USA

For Secretary, 2012-2013 (a two-year term):

• Lee Pedersen from Brown University, Providence, RI USA

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Susan Makar is a librarian and chemical information specialist in the Information Services Office (ISO) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Previously, she worked as the science reference librarian at Georgetown University where she gained extensive experience assisting chemistry department faculty and graduate students. Susan received her MLS from the University of Iowa and a B.A. from Luther College.

In her current position at NIST, Susan is ISO’s web manager and a member of the lab liaison team. Her professional interests and expertise include citation and impact analysis, sci-tech publishing, web content management, chemical information resources, and digital repositories.

Susan’s professional memberships include DCHE, DST, DBIO, and the DC and MD Chapters within SLA. She is also a member of the ACS Division of Chemical Information and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. As an SLA Chemistry Division member, she was a co-program planner on the 2009 conference planning committee. Susan has presented at SLA and ACS national meetings. She was an invited speaker at the SLA MD Chapter’s Xtreme Reference conference in October 2010.

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Lee A. Pedersen is currently serving as the Secretary for DCHE. Her term of office ends in 2011. She became a librarian in 2003 with an MLIS from Dominican University. Before then, she was a seasoned professional chemist with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and years of experience doing research in industry and later serving in chemistry faculty positions. Her first job as an academic librarian has been at Brown University. She started at the end of 2004. She is currently the subject librarian for the physical sciences, developing the collections, doing reference research, conducting instruction, and creating outreach opportunities. As a research chemist, she published in journals, presented at national and international meetings, and been granted two patents and a WO international patent application. She also was elected as the secretary and later the alternate councilor for the Pittsburgh section of the American Chemical Society. As a librarian, her research is currently in instruction and outreach. She has presented at SLA and ASEE national meetings. Her other professional memberships in SLA are PAM, DST, and the RI Chapter. She is also a member of the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

A notice was sent to the Chemistry Division discussion list on May 27 to solicit other potential nominees for these positions.

Respectfully submitted,
Teri M. Vogel
2011 Nominating Chair and Past-Chair - SLA Chemistry Division

Call for volunteers

Dear SLA Chemistry Division Members:

We have a wonderful opportunity for two lucky volunteers to help with the final planning of the DCHE Academic Roundtable & Breakfast session. This is a rather laid back affair which offers wonderful opportunities for discussing topics of interest to the academic community of chemical information professionals. It’s a great way to get involved in Chemistry Division activities and get to know people. And there are lots of wonderful people in the Chemistry Division to get to know!

If, perchance, we happen to have more volunteers than needed for this particular program, not to worry, I feel sure we can find other opportunities to help; not only with Annual, but with other Division activities.

Please let me know as soon as possible, if you would like to volunteer to help with the Chemistry Academic Roundtable (or any other opportunity we may have available).

Thanks in advance!

Bill
Chair, SLA Chemistry Division

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William W. Armstrong
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
Ph. (225) 578-2738
Email: notwwa@lsu.edu

Early Bird Registration for Annual ends Friday, April 8 - don't delay!

Dear Chemistry Division Members:

Please don’t miss the opportunity to save money by registering for the SLA Annual in Philadelphia by Friday! We have an exciting set of programs lined up and hope that you will be able to find multiple events of interest to you, in addition to the networking opportunities that abound.

A complete calendar of DCHE led and co-sponsored events can be found at http://units.sla.org/division/dche/2011/index.htm. For a complete description of any given program, simply click on the event.

If you are interested in the Academic Roundtable & Breakfast, the Business Meeting & Breakfast, and/or the Corporate Roundtable & Breakfast, be sure to indicate when you register, as these are ticketed events. Even though a full breakfast menu is included, we keep the ticket prices down to $15, so it’s a real bargain and a stimulating way to begin any one of these mornings.

If you have any questions regarding Annual, don’t hesitate to email or call, and I’ll be happy to answer whatever I can.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Bill
Chair, SLA Chemistry Division, 2011

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William W. Armstrong
Collection Development Coordinator, LSU Libraries
Chemistry Librarian
Liaison to Physics & Astronomy
Middleton Library
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
Ph. (225) 578-2738
Email: notwwa@lsu.edu

DCHE CE Courses at the 2011 Conference

The Chemistry Division will host three continuing education (CE) courses on June 11 & 12, during the SLA 2011 conference in Philadelphia, PA. These hands-on courses will give you skills to enhance your understanding of chemistry fundamentals, chemical information, and specialized structure searching.

To purchase tickets online, go to http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2011/registration/index.cfm. NOTE: You are not required to register for the full conference in order to attend a CE course.

Please spread the word to your colleagues (SLA members or not) who may benefit from the courses. If someone only wishes to attend CE courses, the downloadable registration form (PDF) may be an easier route: http://www.sla.org/PDFs/SLA2011/2011_attendee_reg_form.pdf. Simply choose the “Ticket Only for CE Courses” registration and enter in the course title & details in section 4.

Contact Ted Baldwin (or 513-556-4211) with any questions regarding these courses.

Title: Chemistry for the Non-Chemist Librarian
Date: Saturday, 11 June 2011
Time: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Instructors: Susan Cardinal (U. Rochester), Judith Currano (U. Pennsylvania)

Summary: Any information scientist with responsibilities for providing chemistry reference services should understand the structure and language of chemistry. This course takes a hands-on approach to introduce learners to the basic principles of the five major divisions of chemistry, chemical terminology and drawing, and other intellectual tools that chemists need to do their work. This course contains four sections: an introduction to chemistry as a science, strategies for effective communication with chemists, basic chemical concepts and research questions, and the ways in which chemists' research needs dictate their information needs.
Ticket prices: Student Member $199 , SLA Member $299 , Non-Member $399

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Title: Chemical Information Sources, Requests, and Reference
Date: Sunday, 12 June 2011
Time: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Instructors: Judith Currano (U. Pennsylvania), Dawn French (Millennium Inorganic Chemicals)

Summary: This hands-on course introduces learners to the types of questions that chemical researchers ask and reference sources that can be used to answer them. It will provide an overview of the structure of the chemical literature, types of reference sources in the chemical sciences, unique access points for chemical information, and strategies for an effective search. Informal lectures, interspersed with real-world reference questions, will compare and describe the major chemical information resources.
Ticket prices: Student Member $99 , SLA Member $199 , Non-Member $299

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Title: Extreme Structure Searching: Organics, Organometallics, Polymers, and Markush
Date: Sunday, 12 June 2011
Time: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Instructors: Denise Callihan (PPG Industries), Judith Currano (U. Pennsylvania)

Summary: This course will introduce participants to specialized search techniques for small molecules in the chemical literature: profiling organic, organometallic and catalytic substances by substructure, applying structure and substructure search techniques to polymer searching, and using basic substructure and Markush search strategies for patent information retrieval. Participants will learn the basics of creating a substructure, progressing to more advanced techniques and recommendations of where, when, and how to use them. This will be followed by techniques of locating organometallics and polymers using the substructure techniques to patent searching, including learning the basics of Markush searching.
Ticket prices: Student Member $99 , SLA Member $199 , Non-Member $299