LibChemNews

SciFinder Scholar 2001

A new version of SciFinder Scholar, a desktop research tool supporting research programs in chemistry, chemical and civil engineering, biochemistry and biogeochemistry, is now available for download to desktop computers on campus. Please note also that SciFinder Scholar version 3 was "withdrawn" on April 1, 2002 and no longer will connect to the CAS databases. Download the newest version to restore access.

SciFinder Scholar software can be installed on any Windows-compatible PC or Macintosh workstation that is connected to the SU campus network. It will not run on off-campus computers outside the campus network within the syr.edu (IP 128.230..) internet domain. See the full list of Hardware and Software Requirements before downloading.

Effective December 16, 2001, 3.8 million bibliographic records from 1907-1967 were added to the CA and CAplus files, bringing the number of documents to more than 21 million records.

One hundred percent of the content of Chemical Abstracts is now available through SciFinder.

The five integrated databases that make up SciFinder provide access to over 36 million chemical structures, molecular formulas, and chemical names; 5.6 million chemical reactions; as well as chemical regulatory information and chemical supply sources. Explore SciFinder by Author, Company, Research Topic, and Document Identifier.

Subject coverage includes chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, geochemistry, agricultural chemistry, biomedical and medicinal chemistry, biotechnology, materials science, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, environmental science and hazardous waste management.

E-Journal Updates

Royal Society of Chemistry

The Royal Society of Chemistry has opened up access to all journal articles published before Janurary 2000. The more recent articles, from 2000-present, are only available by Library subscription. This archive will "roll" each year so that all but the three most current years' articles will be available. E.G., in 2003, articles from 2000 will be added to the "open archive" and subscribers only will have online access to 2001-2003 issues.

American Chemical Society

The Library, working with the Chemistry Department faculty, is purchasing online access to journals published by the American Chemical Society. The subscription is not yet activated (expected to be available in the summer of 2002) but will replace existing print subscriptions and extend it by including almost all ofthe ACS journal catalog. Availability will be announced in a future newsletter and holdings will be updated quickly in SUMMIT.

Highwire Press

The Highwire Press bill themselves as "one of the two largest archives of free full-text science on Earth." What this means is that they are working with many scholarly society presses, encouraging them to have "open archives" of older issues of their journals. While not every publisher is cooperating in the project, those who are generally open their backfiles after six to eighteen months. A list of Free Online Full-text Articles is updated regularly, reflecting available open archives and trials.

BioOne

BioOne (covered in more depth in the Spring 2001 newsletter) now offers more than 40 life science related titles in its collection. With a goal of 200 titles in the next two years, BioOne provides integrated access to this collection of important biological, ecological and environmental sciences society press journals.

New Biology Librarian

Effective July 1, 2002, Elizabeth Wallace will take over the duties of Biology Librarian. Elizabeth has been the Earth Sciences Librarian at Syracuse University since 1997 and has a background in geography and environmental studies. Contact Elizabeth at the Science and Technology Library, by phone, 443-9770, or by e-mail, elwallac@syr.edu.

Revised E-Journal Pages

The Chemistry and Biology Electronic Journals lists have been revised to include all of the existing subscription packages. The old lists were especially incomplete with regards to the titles available through ScienceDirect. In addition, a search engine has been added so that you can locate journals by title word.

[Addendum: This page was subsequently revised and no longer reflects the biology e-journal holdings.]

Online Course Reserves

No longer do you have to come to the Library to read materials placed on course reserves. Since last summer, when the Science and Technology Library purchased a high-end scanning workstation for a grant-funded pilot project, the Science and Technology Library has been distributing almost all course reserves online via SUMMIT's Course Reserves search engine.

While books must still be handled in print format, less lengthy materials such as class notes, book chapters, practice exams, and journal articles all can be distributed electronically.

The materials are generally scanned by SciTech staff and distributed as Adobe Acrobat PDF (portable document format) files that can be read and printed from almost any computer. We will also link to existing electronic materials such as e-journals found on publishers' websites or materials housed on instructor or departmental websites.

All course reserves may be browsed by professor's name or by course number. Only current SU students, faculty and staff have access to course reserve materials. Access to online reserve materials is controlled by IP address for on-campus Library users (the system checks if your computer is on-campus or not) and by SUID number and last name for off-campus users.

Professors who place the materials on reserve are also responsible (as they always have been) for obtaining copyright permissions.

Library workstations may not be able to display all alternate electronic media formats (e.g., PowerPoint slide shows) so it remains the instructor's responsibility to make sure students have the appropriate software to use the course reserve materials.