Chemical Info Literacy Tools:a work in progress

Debbie Chaves, Wilfred Laurier U, dchaves@wlu.ca

Patricia Meindl, U of Toronto, pmeindl@chem.utoronto.ca

Subject Guides – What do we want?

• Hope that subject guides provide students with a starting point for research

• Point of need – point of access – easy to find• Must not be static easily changed• Include library content: catalogues, databases, e-references…• Include course content: direct links to the classroom assignment• Include 2-way communication: chat boxes, Skype…• Include writing content: citation, writing centre….• Include RSS feeds, del.icio.us cloud tags, book covers from

librarything.com, videos….

How do we create the paragon of Subject Guides?

• Drupal: http://drupal.org - open source content management platform• Moodle:

http://moodle.citylit.ac.uk/moodle/mod/resrouce/view.php?id=123 – open source content management system

• MyLibrary: http://mylibrary.library.nd.edu/ - open source subject guide application

• SubjectPlus: http://www.ithacalibrary.com/subplus - database-driven subject guide

• LibData: http://libdata.sourceforge.net – open source authoring environment

• ResearchGuide: http://researchguide.sourceforge.net – open source environment for subject guide creation

• LibGuides: http://www.springshare.com/libguides - $ to create and host platform

What to include?

• What type of information should be included within a subject guide?

• When is it too much information?• How broad should the information be?

References• EBSCOhost: Internet Subject Guides in Academic Libraries. (n.d.). . Retrieved

June 4, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=9&sid=a7472a9b-d689-43f5-a122-96aa9ce27550%40sessionmgr7.

• Edward M. Corrado and Kathryn A. Frederick. (2008, April 10). Free and Open Source Options for Creating Database-Driven Subject Guides. The Code4Lib Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/47.

• iLibrarian » A Librarian’s Guide to Creating 2.0 Subject Guides. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/a-librarians-guide-to-creating-20-subject-guides/.

• Project MUSE - portal: Libraries and the Academy - Students, Librarians, and Subject Guides: Improving a Poor Rate of Return. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v004/4.1reeb.html.

Online tutorials

• Demonstrate the search process• Added value info• On-demand access• Interactivity available in some software• Can be assignment-focused• New simple software– Commercial: Captivate, Camtasia– Free: Wink, Camstudio

Chemistry - a special case?

• Unique needs of chemistry– Properties– Spectra– Chemical structures– Reactions

• Not just topic-based searching

Examples

• Scifinder web– More specific tutorials

• In a Maths for Chemists course (p.37)• FIS 2132 examples• Unfortunately most examples seem to be on

Blackboard type portals and not freely visible

Problem 1

• An organic chemistry professor is going to give his students an assignment on Named Reactions– they have to identify the origins of a specific

named reaction and then find examples of the reaction in the current literature

– The professor could give you 20 minutes in class to tell the students where to look

– But is there a better way to get the info to students?

Problem 2

• A analytical lab course is going to examine many chemical properties during the term– The instructor has asked the librarian to show the

students where to get the literature data – he can fit you in during the first lab class

• Is there a better way?

Problem 3

• A large first year class needs to learn how to use the handbooks and MDS sheets– Each lab group is doing the experiments in a

different order (due to access to facilities)– These are also new students and could use a

general library orientation as well– How to deal with this?

Problem 4

• Suggestions?