00:00:00 Whenever you have chemists, you have questions about all the substances in the world, their

00:00:12 structures, what happens when they are transformed.

00:00:22 Where do chemists look for answers to questions like these?

00:00:29 Are there analogs to this molecule?

00:00:32 Has anyone found this catalyst before?

00:00:36 What toxicity problems do I face?

00:00:40 Chemists look to other chemists, of course, or else they may learn the hard way.

00:00:47 Are you telling me that you didn't have the literature search before you started this

00:00:50 project?

00:00:55 A few generations back, you could put all the practicing chemists in one room and stack

00:01:01 the records of their experiments on one shelf, nearly all in one language.

00:01:07 Today, to ask other chemists, you would first have to contact thousands of them in plants,

00:01:16 universities, laboratories, or find out where they publish their results.

00:01:24 It could mean searching libraries of books, years of journals, miles of microfilm, sorting

00:01:30 through patents and proceedings in many languages.

00:01:36 Once the information from other chemists is in hand, today's scientists can evaluate the

00:01:41 findings to judge if he or she is on to something new.

00:01:45 That goes for biochemists, chemical engineers, physical chemists, and all of the fields served

00:01:51 by the chemical information profession.

00:01:56 That's why the Chemical Information Division of the American Chemical Society brings you

00:02:01 this presentation.

00:02:03 We're taking a new hard look at the role the information professional plays in these days

00:02:09 of high technology.

00:02:12 The information professional is the interface between the chemist and the information he

00:02:18 needs.

00:02:20 The Division of Chemical Information of ACS has over a thousand members.

00:02:26 When some of our committee members get together for a planning session, I can't help but be

00:02:31 amazed at the wide variety of interests, skills, responsibilities that are represented in such

00:02:37 a small group.

00:02:40 Chemical Information Division members are experts in all aspects of information management,

00:02:45 and most are trained scientists as well.

00:02:49 Some collect, index, abstract and organize the documents and data published by chemists

00:02:55 all over the world.

00:02:58 Others create the systems and computer programs, publish indexes, distribute abstracts of journals,

00:03:05 and consult with the chemists.

00:03:07 The astonishing fact, the challenge, lies in the way that the volume of chemical information

00:03:13 has grown in our lifetime.

00:03:16 A hundred years ago, Friedrich Conrad Bauschtein quickly sold out his original two-volume edition

00:03:22 of the Handbook of Organic Chemistry.

00:03:24 It had taken him working alone fifteen years to check and organize the information on fifteen

00:03:31 thousand compounds.

00:03:33 Today, Bauschtein has more than a hundred and ninety volumes and contains information

00:03:38 on four million carbon compounds.

00:03:42 It takes an organization of a hundred and eighty information professionals to do the

00:03:45 critical assessment and coherent ordering of validated factual information.

00:03:52 What is fourteen feet tall weighs more than three hundred and eighty pounds and fills

00:03:56 seventy-five volumes.

00:03:59 It's the tenth collective index to chemical abstracts covering five years.

00:04:03 The first collective index to C.A. covered the years 1907 to 1916 in three volumes.

00:04:11 Chemical Abstract Services has organized information on every chemical substance reported

00:04:16 in the open scientific literature since 1907.

00:04:20 C.A.S. also operates a chemical registry system that creates an atom-by-atom, bond-by-bond

00:04:27 connectivity table for each new chemical structure and assigns a unique C.A.S. registry number

00:04:33 for each substance.

00:04:35 Today, there are nearly seven million chemical substances registered in the system and they

00:04:41 are being added at the rate of seven thousand substances every week.

00:04:45 To accomplish this task, many highly trained information professionals monitor more than

00:04:50 fourteen thousand scientific journals in fifty languages, patents from twenty-six countries

00:04:56 and two international organizations.

00:05:00 On the input side, Bauschtein, Chemical Abstract Service, Mahlon, American Petroleum Institute,

00:05:07 American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Heilbron and others function like huge data

00:05:13 refineries.

00:05:15 These organizations collect raw data on worldwide chemical achievement, then screen, sort and

00:05:22 process it.

00:05:23 They present back to the chemist a compact retrievable array of hard facts, some in print,

00:05:30 some on microfilm, some stored electronically.

00:05:35 There are a lot of hard facts.

00:05:38 How to get the ones you want?

00:05:41 Is high technology, its systems and databases the answer?

00:05:46 In part, yes.

00:05:48 But there are problems.

00:05:51 Some chemists I work with feel it takes less time to set up the reactions themselves than

00:05:56 to plow through the literature to find out how or if someone else did it.

00:06:01 Some don't feel comfortable with the terminal.

00:06:05 You know, from an academic point of view, there seems to be a dilemma with regard to

00:06:10 chemical information storage and retrieval.

00:06:13 On the one hand, there is an appreciation of the importance of the information from

00:06:17 the scientific literature, but on the other hand, the cost to access this information

00:06:22 from commercial services is prohibitive to most colleges and universities.

00:06:26 However, in spite of this dilemma, some chemistry departments have now started collaborative

00:06:32 programs to provide additional computer training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

00:06:38 For example, in the Washington metropolitan area, there are several universities where

00:06:42 increased emphasis on teaching the use of computers in chemistry has begun.

00:06:48 I can't help thinking that more programs of this type will eventually give rise to a new

00:06:53 breed of chemists who are more computer literate.

00:06:57 I'm a chemist myself, and I agree that a lot of us know that the beginning of wisdom

00:07:02 is to ask the right question at the right time with the help of the right information

00:07:07 specialist.

00:07:08 But some of my colleagues cherish their own approach to information retrieval.

00:07:14 Last week, a man walked into my office.

00:07:17 He said he'd started in his corner of the building and stuck his head into every lab

00:07:22 all the way over to mine.

00:07:25 None of the eight chemists on the floor gave him the answer, so he asked me to get it online.

00:07:31 The walk took an hour.

00:07:33 The computer search took about 10 minutes.

00:07:36 It matches his question against results published by hundreds of chemists living and dead.

00:07:42 He got answers from 36 of them.

00:07:47 Online.

00:07:49 That means real-time, instantaneous interaction between a human operator and a computer.

00:08:01 Ask almost any teenager.

00:08:04 Millions of them are having lots of experience with instantaneous interaction with computers,

00:08:10 and all have learned two basic facts.

00:08:14 It costs money to use the equipment, and you get much better results if you're skilled

00:08:22 in the art.

00:08:24 There is, therefore, wide understanding that effective, instantaneous interaction with

00:08:30 a computer requires a certain investment in time and money.

00:08:37 The truth is, any one computer game represents a very small set of data that is committed

00:08:43 to only one operator at any one time.

00:08:48 Chemical information collectively is a huge database.

00:08:53 To keep costs down, the large, complex systems now available for various collections must

00:09:00 permit many operators to access the facts at the same time.

00:09:06 That's time-sharing, instantaneous, real-time interaction with a computer by many searchers

00:09:13 simultaneously.

00:09:17 For these huge chemical information systems, the same two basic facts apply.

00:09:22 It costs money to operate the equipment, and you get much better results if the operator

00:09:28 is an information professional skilled in the art.

00:09:33 Without skill, accessing the computer can run up the cost rapidly without running up

00:09:39 the score.

00:09:41 Much of the information online deals with text, author, title, keywords, abstracts.

00:09:50 But with sophisticated computer graphics and online substructure searching, there is a

00:09:55 whole universe of new possibilities.

00:10:00 Since substances with similar structures are likely to have similar properties, it is helpful

00:10:07 to get the facts early about what to expect from substances similar to the one you're

00:10:13 investigating.

00:10:14 I'm going to run a literature search.

00:10:21 What are you interested in searching?

00:10:22 I'm interested in metal by thiocarbamates as fungicides.

00:10:26 Are you interested in the general class of compounds or in one specific compound?

00:10:31 No, I'm interested in any compound which has been reported over the last 10 to 15 years.

00:10:36 Could you draw me a structure of what you're interested in?

00:10:41 Basically, what I want are any compounds within this general class.

00:10:47 There are several ways I can approach this.

00:10:49 Since you're interested in structures in general, I think it would be appropriate if I

00:10:54 searched this on the C.A.S.

00:10:55 online system.

00:10:59 As answers to Joanne's question are found, they are immediately sent back for display on

00:11:04 her graphics terminal screen.

00:11:12 Structure diagrams are included in each response.

00:11:15 This is an excellent example of a structure diagram.

00:11:18 Colin, like many other chemists, finds structure and substructure searching the most precise

00:11:24 and useful means of identifying substances or classes of compounds.

00:11:29 Joanne's search for metal dithiocarbamates retrieved over 400 substances from the C.A.S.

00:11:35 online file.

00:11:37 Colin found the results revealing.

00:11:39 The search was a very interesting one.

00:11:42 It was demonstrated that some metals had been put in there that I hadn't appreciated

00:11:49 previously, salts were made that I hadn't previously realized, and some fairly complex

00:11:53 molecules have been synthesized and recorded in the literature.

00:11:58 Beside this terminal, what do I need to do this search or any search in any other

00:12:03 database? First, I must pay for the subscription.

00:12:07 I must have the right hardware.

00:12:09 I must know the system commands and the database content.

00:12:13 I must keep up with system changes.

00:12:16 And yes, I must be prepared to pay for connect time and for printouts.

00:12:21 But there are many resources.

00:12:25 There are scores of databases, most produced separately to serve specialized or

00:12:30 generalized fields.

00:12:32 Many are available online, but only in part in most cases.

00:12:37 From 1976 on, for instance, or from 1970, it's a full time job to keep up with changes

00:12:46 to know when to search online, when to go to hard copy.

00:12:50 Each database has its own terminology, protocol, user manuals, training requirements.

00:12:56 In some cases, the information is available online before it's in print.

00:13:01 In others, the printed version carries more or perhaps less detail than the database,

00:13:07 depending on the year, of course.

00:13:09 Dealing with each one separately could be both costly and cumbersome.

00:13:15 That is why many research groups in government, universities and industry set up

00:13:20 information centers staffed with information professionals.

00:13:24 They negotiate contracts with the major systems like these, which let them access

00:13:29 scores of these databases.

00:13:32 Skilled information specialists handle the search mechanics in consultation with the

00:13:37 chemists, and the mechanics can be complex.

00:13:41 Just for openers, consider something as basic as nomenclature.

00:13:46 What do you call the chemical substance you're looking for?

00:13:51 Many chemicals are known by a multiplicity of names.

00:13:54 These names are used interchangeably by authors and indexers, depending on when the

00:13:59 technical paper or patent was published, what country, what language, or the source for

00:14:04 the abstract journal itself.

00:14:06 By any other name, every word you see on the screen is formaldehyde.

00:14:12 Take something as simple as gold.

00:14:14 I was searching online for reclaiming gold from a process.

00:14:18 I had to use 14 ways to enter the system.

00:14:21 Unless you entered all 14, you'd miss something.

00:14:25 The only way you get information out of a computer is the way it was put in exactly.

00:14:31 Flashes, stars, hyphens and spaces included.

00:14:37 I had a chemist on the phone the other day asking me to search for tetraethyl lead.

00:14:42 There are a lot of references in the open literature to tetraethyl lead.

00:14:46 Certainly he doesn't want everything on this substance.

00:14:49 But if he means pure tetraethyl lead, most of the references will be of no help.

00:14:54 What most authors call tetraethyl lead is usually one of many mixtures on the market

00:14:59 today which have only a percent of tetraethyl.

00:15:03 It's not just different names for one substance, it's different substances for one

00:15:08 name. A good information professional gets real job satisfaction out of helping by

00:15:15 contributing to the progress of a research project.

00:15:19 Many of them have advanced degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering.

00:15:23 Almost all have additional degrees in the fields like information and computer

00:15:28 sciences or library science.

00:15:31 To interface between chemists and the mountain of information they may need means

00:15:36 being a lot more than an electronic file cabinet.

00:15:40 Did she say mountain?

00:15:41 This curve of the number of abstracts published in CA says it all.

00:15:50 This was the volume in 1947.

00:15:54 Now 60 percent of all of the chemical literature published in the world has been

00:16:00 published since 1967.

00:16:04 Chemical information professionals hold the keys to the valuable resources which help

00:16:10 chemists build the future, not reinvent the past.

00:16:15 Certainly the creation of new chemical information is expensive and we all know it

00:16:21 is a value.

00:16:23 Total R&D budget of the major chemical companies worldwide is in the order of

00:16:28 several billions of dollars.

00:16:31 Bob, tell me about ITIMG.

00:16:35 Jean, ITIMG stands for the Industrial Technical Information Managers Group.

00:16:42 This is an informal association of managers of corporate systems for handling

00:16:49 technical information.

00:16:50 Currently we have representatives from most of the major American companies, the

00:16:57 electrical and mechanical as well as the chemical companies.

00:17:01 As your group sees it, what can be said about funding for the chemical information

00:17:06 activity?

00:17:07 We in ITIMG are in general agreement that the major corporations spend about one

00:17:13 tenth percent of sales in managing corporate information resources on behalf of

00:17:19 our working scientists.

00:17:22 We continue to debate with our management.

00:17:25 We would like to spend more money.

00:17:28 Management tells us to spend more wisely than money in our current budgets.

00:17:33 How can we as information managers better serve our scientists in the future?

00:17:40 We need better access to the literature.

00:17:43 The pre-1965 registration effort of chemical abstract service is a major step in

00:17:48 the right direction.

00:17:51 I hope the project will be funded adequately.

00:17:53 And I also hope that this effort can be extended to cover the literature back to

00:17:58 1907 and earlier.

00:18:02 Other major vendors of chemical information services should be encouraged to do

00:18:06 likewise.

00:18:08 That is to provide better access to the literature handled by their services.

00:18:14 You've been talking about information that's been created in the past.

00:18:17 What about the future?

00:18:18 There are important new technologies based on chemicals and chemical reactions which

00:18:22 are developing rapidly.

00:18:25 Examples are new microelectronic devices, chips, gene modification, biomedical

00:18:32 advances.

00:18:34 Innovations in these areas of human endeavor will generate large numbers of

00:18:38 publications in the learned journals in the future, which must be indexed properly

00:18:43 for efficient retrieval.

00:18:45 In short, I'm more concerned about the quality of the intellectual effort which is

00:18:50 necessary for the future of information retrieval.

00:18:54 Certainly there will be advances in computer-based systems, machines, and the

00:18:59 awareness in the information community of how best to use these systems.

00:19:04 But this is a minor concern to me.

00:19:08 What do we in chemical information need to do to meet the needs of the future?

00:19:12 What do we in chemical information need to do to meet the challenge?

00:19:16 Increasingly in the future, we in industry will recruit very competent people to help

00:19:21 us serve the interest of our working scientists.

00:19:25 We will recruit people with the best balance of intellectual abilities,

00:19:29 educational background, experience in the corporate enterprise, and interest in

00:19:34 helping others solve their very difficult problems.

00:19:38 I believe it is fair to say that corporate management in this country is well aware

00:19:43 of the value of technical information retrieval systems, and we in this field will

00:19:49 continue to receive the support we deserve.

00:19:55 In some ways, guiding a research project through to success can be compared to

00:20:01 playing a video game.

00:20:02 The sudden appearance of competitors taking unexpected positions of strength can force

00:20:07 abrupt changes in direction.

00:20:10 Failure to react promptly when new barriers spring up can mean disaster.

00:20:17 To win, you must keep your eye on the whole field.

00:20:21 Take control of new directions which offer the best chance for the longest clear path

00:20:26 and the highest score in time available.

00:20:29 The only way to score high is by making decisions based on all the information that

00:20:35 you can use to your advantage.

00:20:39 Are you looking for the right job in the chemical information profession?

00:20:44 Are you looking for the right chemical professional to do a job for you?

00:20:49 The Chemical Information Division of the American Chemical Society, with the help of

00:20:53 its hundreds of members, has been working on a number of projects.

00:20:57 With the help of its hundreds of members, is the place to go for answers?

00:21:03 In 1982, the American Chemical Society recognized our division, the Division of

00:21:08 Chemical Information, for outstanding performance.

00:21:13 Almost every year, the Division of Chemical Information presents the Skolnick Award,

00:21:17 established in the name of our first awardee, Dr. Herman Skolnick, in 1976.

00:21:23 The award is made to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field

00:21:27 of chemical information, an award which both recognizes and encourages excellence in our field.

00:21:38 Taken together, the thousand or so members of the Chemical Information Division, working

00:21:43 with other information professionals worldwide, are a vital resource for the success of every

00:21:49 chemist, chemical engineer, biochemist, physical chemist.

00:21:56 We are at work before the chemist asks the question, collecting, systematizing, programming

00:22:02 the information the chemist may suddenly demand.

00:22:06 We work with the chemist during his research, supplying more information as he probes, changes

00:22:12 direction, makes the responsible choices between the known and the unknown.

00:22:18 We are at work after the research is finished, recording and organizing the published information,

00:22:23 data, patents, integrating it into the world supply of chemical information.

00:22:31 For more information on the service, the careers, the challenges at the interface between chemists

00:22:38 and their questions, contact the Chemical Information Division of the American Chemical Society.

00:22:47 ♪♪♪

00:22:57 ♪♪♪

00:23:07 ♪♪♪

00:23:17 ♪♪♪

00:23:27 ♪♪♪

00:23:37 ♪♪♪

00:23:47 ♪♪♪