2010 Chemistry Division CE Courses

Will you be at the Special Libraries Association 101^st annual conference in New Orleans this June? Please consider attending the SLA Chemistry Division’s Continuing Education courses on June 12-13. These highly-regarded courses provide essential hands-on learning on the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical information, and are taught by experts in their field. Full course details are provided below. Both courses provide discounted rates for SLA student members.

SLA 2010 conference registration is now open at http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sla/sla2010/public/enter.aspx. CE course tickets can be purchased during the registration process.

Note: you are NOT required to attend the conference in order to come to a CE course. Contact Ted Baldwin for details.

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Chemistry for the Non-Chemist Librarian

Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 8am-5pm

Ticket # 130 : $299 members / $399 non-members / $149 student members (limit 5)

Instructors: Bartow Culp (Purdue U.), Judith Currano (U. of Pennsylvania)

Description: It is necessary that any information scientist with responsibilities for providing chemistry reference services understand the structure and language of chemistry. This course takes a hands-on approach to introduce learners to the five major divisions of chemistry, their basic principles, and the intellectual tools that chemists need to do their work. It will be composed of three basic sections, an introduction to chemistry as a science, basic concepts and research questions in chemistry and strategies for effective communication with chemists, and the ways in which chemists' research needs dictate their information needs. SPECIAL NOTE: Student Member Rate = $149.

Chemical Information Sources, Request, and References

Date: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 8am-12noon

Ticket # 305 : $199 members / $299 non-members / $99 student members (limit 5)

Instructors: Judith Currano (U. of Pennsylvania), Dawn French (Millennium Inorganic Chemicals)

Description: The course takes a hands-on approach to introduce 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 hands-on reference questions, will compare and describe the major chemical information resources. SPECIAL NOTE: Student Member Rate = $99.

DCHE Executive Board for 2010

The DCHE Executive Board for 2010. The Advisory Board & Committee members will be posted later this month.

Chair:
Teri Vogel, UC San Diego

Chair-Elect:
Bill Armstrong, Louisiana State University

Past-Chair:
Luray Minkiewicz, E I DuPont De Nemours Co

Secretary (2010-2011):
Lee Pedersen, Brown University

Treasurer (2009-2010):
Bob Buchanan, Auburn University

2010 Sparks Award for Professional Development

2010 Marion E. Sparks Award for Professional Development

The Chemistry Division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) is sponsoring a student/new member travel award to defray the costs of attending the 2010 SLA Annual Meeting June 13-16 in New Orleans, LA. The award is intended to encourage the professional development of student members and new members of the Chemistry Division and encourage their participation in Chemistry Division activities.

TRAVEL AWARD: $1,500 stipend to attend the 2010 SLA Annual Conference. The winner will also receive a certificate of achievement and will be introduced at the Chemistry Division Business Meeting & Breakfast.

ELIGIBILITY: All student members of the SLA Chemistry Division and all new members of the SLA Chemistry Division (individuals who have joined since January 2009) are eligible. All applicants must have joined the SLA Chemistry Division by February 16, 2010. See below for how to join.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
Please submit the following:
-A brief essay that: a) clearly articulates your objectives for professional development; and b) indicates what you hope to gain from attending the SLA Annual Meeting. Maximum length: 2 pages.
-Resumé
-Names of two references.
-Brief budget (expected expenses for registration, airfare, lodging, food and/or continuing education course).
Registration in a Chemistry Division or other Continuing Education (CE) course is recommended, but not required.

DEADLINE: All applications for the award must be received by March 1, 2010 (all applicants must have joined the SLA Chemistry Division by February 16, 2010). The winner will be notified March 15, 2010. Essays will be judged by the SLA Chemistry Division Awards Committee.

SUBMIT APPLICATION VIA EMAIL TO:
Cory Craig
University of California, Davis
Physical Sciences & Engineering Library
One Shields Avenue
Davis, California 95616-8676 cjcraig@ucdavis.edu

SLA CHEMISTRY DIVISION SPARKS AWARD: http://www.sla.org/division/dche/sparks.htm

HISTORY: The award is named to honor Marion E. Sparks, a chemistry librarian at the University of Illinois from 1913 until her death in 1929. Ms. Sparks contributed a great deal to the field of chemical information, her achievements include teaching courses on chemical information, and authoring and publishing what is argued to be the first book to formally address chemical literature and library instruction.

Want to join the Chemistry Division of SLA?
Not a member of SLA? Use this link to join SLA: http://www.sla.org/content/membership/joinsla/index.cfm
When you join SLA, you can also join one division for free, additional divisions are $18/year.

Already an SLA member? To join the Chemistry Division either: 1) Download the SLA Change/Add Units form: http://www.sla.org/content/membership/unitchange.cfm and fax or mail it to SLA. Or 2) Call 1-703-647-4936 and pay with a credit card. When you join SLA, you can also join one division for free, additional divisions are $18/year.

The Vote Is In: SLA will remain SLA

With 50 percent of eligible members voting, the proposal to change our name from Special Libraries Association to Association for Strategic Information Professionals was rejected.

YES: 2071
NO: 3225

"Our name will remain," [SLA 2009 President Gloria] Zamora continued, "but we will go forward with developing opportunities for our members to use the Alignment findings to demonstrate their contributions to the organizations that employ them."

"Information and knowledge professionals are critical assets to the organizations that employ them, yet their contributions and capabilities are too often underestimated," said SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance. "The findings of the Alignment Project research will guide SLA in developing services and programs that will more successfully position these professionals in the marketplace and attract the recognition and compensation they deserve."

2009 SLA All Sciences Online Poster Session now underway

The 2009 SLA All Sciences Online Poster Session is now underway and will run from October 15 -29. The web conference features many of the posters originally presented at the SLA Annual Meeting, June 2009 at the All Sciences Poster Session and Reception in Washington, D.C. Division sponsors of the online event, as with the physical session, are: Biomedical & Life Sciences; Chemistry; Engineering; Food, Agriculture & Nutrition; Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics; Science-Technology.

A total of 14 posters are being offered under the two major themes which are

Theme I: Scientific Information Workflow: Librarian Perspectives, Best Practices, and Models in the Digital Era
and
Theme II: Innovations and Best Practices in Biomedical and Life Sciences Libraries

Details of the schedule, along with access to the discussion forums and the presentations themselves can be found at the location link below.

If you did not get to see these posters in Washington, D.C., or comment, ask questions, or exchange ideas with the presenters at the time, now’s your chance. Come peruse the poster selections and participate in the discussions which will take place in an asynchronous format, thereby freeing you from time constraints. But there is one inescapable time limit, and that is October 29, so don’t wait too late to participate.

Location: http://forum.lib.lsu.edu/slachem/
Registration: free (registration is necessary to post questions and comments, but not to view the presentations –we do hope you will choose to engage in the discussions, however)

SLA DCHE Survey

Members of the SLA Chemistry Division ---

It’s been 5 years since the Division last “took the pulse” of our membership, so it’s time to tell us (the Division Board and Committees) what’s important to you. Tell us what it is you need and what you think should be the Division’s focus; this will help the Division effectively plan the activities that will be offered to you in the near future. The survey covers communication, professional development, membership, mentoring, and also provides the chance for you to comment on other topics. Please take a few minutes and fill out the Strategic Planning survey; the survey will be open for 3 weeks (from August 13 to September 7th.)

Enter the Survey here

Don’t miss this opportunity to have your opinions heard!

Linda Shackle, Strategic Planning
Luray M Minkiewicz, Division Chair
Judith Currano, Membership
Ted Baldwin, Professional Development


If you have any difficulty getting to the survey, please contact Linda Shackle at linda.shackle@asu.edu

DCHE Session on Interdisciplinary Science (Inside Higher Ed)

Inside Higher Ed reported on "Interdisciplinary Science and Its Impact on Information Professionals," one of the SLA Chemistry Division programs (co-organized with the Social Sciences Division) at this year's SLA Annual Conference in Washington DC.

The Interdisciplinary Science Library - June 17, 2009

Carol Tenopir envisions academe as entirely connected. With interdisciplinary research creating more and more fields of study throughout higher education, university libraries are becoming the hub of the growing body of academic work spawned by these new disciplines. In a session here at the Special Libraries Association annual meeting, she told the audience that information professionals should embrace these new bodies of interdisciplinary thought both by helping scholars to access them and by taking an active role in compiling them.

Other speakers at the program: librarians Daureen Nesdill from the University of Utah, Kevin Lindstrom from the University of British Columbia, and Brandy King from Harvard University's Center on Media and Child Health.

April - June 2009 Newsletter Available

The April - June 2009 Newsletter is now online, including:

• a conference preview from our Chair


• A report on the ACS Spring 2009 Meeting by Meghan Lafferty


• Useful website for the 2009 SLA Annual Conference

If you are interested in contributing to future newsletters, please contact Kiem Ta (kiem.ta@okstate.edu) or Kevin Lindstrom (kevin.lindstrom@ubc.ca).

All Sciences Poster Session Abstracts Available

Abstracts for both themes of the All Sciences Poster Session and Reception are now available:

Theme I: Scientific Information Workflow: Librarian Perspectives, Best Practices, and Models in the Digital Era

Theme II: Innovations and Best Practices in Biomedical and Life Sciences Libraries

Nominations Announced

The SLA Chemistry Division’s Nominations Committee are pleased to announce their candidates for Secretary and Chair-Elect (terms starting in 2010).

Chair-elect: William Armstrong

Secretary: Lee A. Pedersen

To suggest additional candidates, send a petition with 10 members names along with the written consent of the proposed candidates to either Sue Cardinal, Betsy Aldridge, or Dana Roth by June 5th

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William Armstrong
Head of the Chemistry Library at Louisiana State University from 1999 until its closing in 2005, Bill Armstrong now serves as Collection Development Coordinator for LSU Libraries, coordinating collection development activities and procurement (or “de-selection,” as the case may be) of information resources for all academic departments on campus. For ten years, he co-taught a semester long for-credit course for biochemistry majors, “Information Retrieval in the Sciences,” with a colleague from the Biochemistry faculty, and has taught numerous sessions for chemistry graduate students.

Bill has been a member of SLA and the Chemistry Division since 2001 and has served as administrator for the online poster sessions since 2004, and moderator for the live sessions since 2005. He has served as President of the Louisiana/Southern Mississippi Chapter and is currently Networking Chair for the chapter.

Bill has published on diverse topics, including “Communication in the Sciences as Seen through Physics and Chemistry…” and “Cyberspace: Relationship Between Place and Being,” in addition to having given talks at ACS meetings on the future of Chemistry libraries and the Biofuel economy. He holds an MLIS and an MA in Philosophy from LSU.

Once a flamenco and classical guitarist as well as composer, Bill still has an avid interest in music, which is confined largely to listening these days, due to time constraints. He and his wife have a daughter whom they have raised bilingually in German and English – Bill has only spoken to her in German since she was born almost 18 years ago. He and his family enjoy hiking and horseback riding, among many other things.

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Lee A. Pedersen

Lee Pedersen became a librarian in 2003 with an MLIS from Dominican University. Before then, she was a seasoned professional with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and had 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 and department liaison for chemistry, computer science, engineering, and physics, developing the collections, doing research, conducting instruction, and creating outreach opportunities. As a research chemist, she has published in journals, presented at national and international meetings, and been granted two patents. 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 and, recently, had a poster on her program Librarian in the Lobby at the ARL forum on 21st Century Science Libraries. Her professional memberships are DCHEM, PAM, DST, and the RI Chapter within SLA. She is currently in her first year of a two-year term as President-elect of the RI Chapter. She is also a member of the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.